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JavaScript JavaScript and the DOM (Retiring) Getting a Handle on the DOM Selecting Elements with the Same Class Name

Posted by nathanielcusano
nathanielcusano
9,808 Points

Don't get the difference between setting a variable = document.getElementsByTagName("BODY")[0]; and ...

document.getElementsByTagName("BODY"); ???

1 Answer

Sarah Stensberg
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.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Sarah Stensberg
Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree Student 5,006 Points
Sarah Stensberg
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Sarah Stensberg
Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree Student 5,006 Points

According to StackOverflow, using [0] would find the first tag in the document and target that. This is useful if you have multiple tags with the same name ("p", for example). However, I would think it'd be better to target by ID in this case, vs by tag. In your example, I don't think there's a difference because you should only have one body tag.

Ross Woodruff
Ross Woodruff
4,388 Points

From W3 Schools:

The getElementsByTagName() method returns a collection of all elements in the document with the specified tag name, as a NodeList object.

The NodeList object represents a collection of nodes. The nodes can be accessed by index numbers. The index starts at 0

Just because you have one Body tag it still comes up as an array.