ParentNode.childElementCount

The ParentNode.childElementCount read-only property returns an unsigned long representing the number of child elements of the given element.

Syntax

var count = node.childElementCount;

count

holds the return value an unsigned long (simply an integer) type.

node

is an object representing a Document, DocumentFragment or Element.

Example

var foo = document.getElementById("foo"); 
if (foo.childElementCount > 0) { 
    // do something
}

Polyfill for IE8 & IE9 & Safari

This property is unsupported prior to IE9, and also in IE9 & Safari Document, DocumentFragment objects don't have it.

;(function(constructor) {
    if (constructor &&
        constructor.prototype &&
        constructor.prototype.childElementCount == null) {
        Object.defineProperty(constructor.prototype, 'childElementCount', {
            get: function() {
                var i = 0, count = 0, node, nodes = this.childNodes;
                while (node = nodes[i++]) {
                    if (node.nodeType === 1) count++;
                }
                return count;
            }
        });
    }
})(window.Node || window.Element);

Specification

Browser compatibility

See also

• The ParentNode and ChildNode pure interfaces.
• Object types implementing this pure interface: Document, Element, and DocumentFragment.