Document Object

Definition and Usage

The Document object is the root of a document tree.

The Document object gives us access to the document's data.

Since element nodes, text nodes, attributes, comments, etc. cannot exist outside the document, the Document object contains methods to create these objects. All Node objects have a ownerDocument property which associates them with the Document where they were created.

Note: The Document object can also use the properties and methods of the Node object.

---

Browser Support

    

The Document object is supported in all major browsers.

---

Document Object Properties

The "DOM" column indicates in which DOM Level the property was introduced.

Property	Description	DOM
doctype	Returns the Document Type Declaration associated with the document	1
documentElement	Returns the Document Element of the document (the HTML element)	1
documentURI	Sets or returns the location of the document	3
domConfig	Returns the configuration used when normalizeDocument() is invoked	3
implementation	Returns the DOMImplementation object that handles this document	1
inputEncoding	Returns the encoding, character set, used for the document	3
strictErrorChecking	Sets or returns whether error-checking is enforced or not	3
xmlEncoding	Returns the XML encoding of the XML document	3
xmlStandalone	Sets or returns whether the XML document is standalone or not	3
xmlVersion	Sets or returns the XML version of the XML document	3

Document Object Methods

The "DOM" column indicates in which DOM Level the method was introduced.

Method	Description	DOM
adoptNode(node)	Adopts a node from another document to this document. Returns the adopted node	3
createAttribute()	Creates an attribute node	1
createAttributeNS(URI,name)	Creates an attribute with the specified name and namspaceURI	2
createCDATASection()	Creates a CDATA node with the specified text. For XML DOM only	1
createComment()	Creates a Comment node with the specified text	1
createDocumentFragment()	Creates an empty DocumentFragment node	1
createElement()	Creates an Element node	1
createElementNS()	Creates an element with the specified namespace	2
createEntityReference()	Creates an EntityReference node. For XML DOM only	1
createProcessingInstruction()	Creates an EntityReference node. For XML DOM only	1
createTextNode()	Creates a Text node	1
getElementById()	Returns the element that has the ID attribute with the specified value	2
getElementsByTagName()	Returns a NodeList containing all elements with the specified tagname	1
getElementsByTagNameNS()	Returns a NodeList containing all elements with the specified namespaceURI and tagname	2
importNode()	Imports a node from another document	2
normalizeDocument()	Removes empty Text nodes, and joins adjacent nodes	3
renameNode()	Renames the specified node	3