Node: removeChild() method
The removeChild() method of the Node interface removes a child node from the DOM and returns the removed node.
Note: As long as a reference is kept on the removed child, it still exists in memory, but is no longer part of the DOM. It can still be reused later in the code.
If the return value of removeChild() is not stored, and no other reference is kept, it will be automatically deleted from memory after a short time.
Unlike Node.cloneNode() the return value preserves the EventListener objects associated with it.
Syntax
Parameters
-
child
-
A Node that is the child node to be removed from the DOM.
Exception
NotFoundError DOMException
-
Thrown if the child is not a child of the node.
-
TypeError
-
Thrown if the child is null.
Examples
Simple examples
Given this HTML:
<div id="parent">
<div id="child"></div>
</div>
To remove a specified element when knowing its parent node:
const parent = document.getElementById("parent");
const child = document.getElementById("child");
const throwawayNode = parent.removeChild(child);
To remove a specified element without having to specify its parent node:
const node = document.getElementById("child");
if (node.parentNode) {
node.parentNode.removeChild(node);
}
To remove all children from an element:
const element = document.getElementById("idOfParent");
while (element.firstChild) {
element.removeChild(element.firstChild);
}
Causing a TypeError
const parent = document.getElementById("parent");
const child = document.getElementById("child");
const garbage = parent.removeChild(child);
Causing a NotFoundError
<div id="parent">
<div id="child"></div>
</div>
const parent = document.getElementById("parent");
const child = document.getElementById("child");
const garbage = parent.removeChild(child);
garbage = parent.removeChild(child);
Specifications
Browser compatibility
|
Desktop |
Mobile |
|
Chrome |
Edge |
Firefox |
Internet Explorer |
Opera |
Safari |
WebView Android |
Chrome Android |
Firefox for Android |
Opera Android |
Safari on IOS |
Samsung Internet |
removeChild |
1 |
12 |
1 |
5 |
7 |
1.1 |
4.4 |
18 |
4 |
10.1 |
1 |
1.0 |
See also