The DOM firstChild Property is used to return the firstchild Node of its parent node element. It is read-only property and may return an element node, a text node or a comment node.
Syntax:
node.firstChild Return Value: It returns a string value which represent the first child of a node. If the element does not have a child node then it returns a null value.
Note: Whitespace inside the parent elements is considered as text, and text is considered as nodes.
Example-1:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
h1 {
color: green;
}
</style>
</head>
<body style="margin-left:140px;">
<h1>GeeksForGeeks</h1>
<h2>DOM firstChild Property </h2>
<p>List of sorting::</p>
<ul id="GFG"><li>Merge Sort</li>
<li>Quick Sort</li>
<li>Selection Sort</li>
<li>Bubble Sort</li>
</ul>
<button onclick="Geeks()">Submit</button>
<p id="sudo"></p>
<script>
function Geeks() {
var x =
document.getElementById("GFG").firstChild.innerHTML;
document.getElementById("sudo").innerHTML = x;
}
</script>
</body>
</html>
Output:
Before clicking on the Button:
After clicking on the button:
Example-2: To get the node name of the first child-
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
h1 {
color: green;
}
#GFG {
font-size: 20px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body style="margin-left:140px;">
<h1>GeeksForGeeks</h1>
<h2>DOM firstChild Property </h2>
<div id="GFG">
<p>first Node</p>
<span>Second Node</span>
<p>ThirdNode</p>
</div>
<br>
<button onclick="Geeks()">Submit</button>
<p id="sudo" style="font-size:25PX;"></p>
<script>
function Geeks() {
var x =
document.getElementById("GFG").firstElementChild.nodeName;
document.getElementById("sudo").innerHTML =
"node name of the first child node "
+ "of a <div> element:" + x;
}
</script>
</body>
</html>
Output:
Before clicking on the button:
After clicking on the button:
Supported Browsers: The browser supported by DOM firstChild property are listed below:
- Google Chrome 1.0
- Edge 12.0
- Internet Explorer 6.0
- Firefox 1.0
- Opera 12.1
- Safari 1.0