# HTML DOM textContent Property

Element Object

## Example

Get the text content of the first <button> element in the document:

var x = document.getElementsByTagName("BUTTON")[0].textContent;

The result of x will be:

Try it yourself
Try it yourself »

More "Try it Yourself" examples below.

## Definition and Usage

The textContent property sets or returns the textual content of the specified node, and all its descendants.

If you set the textContent proerty, any child nodes are removed and replaced by a single Text node containing the specified string.

Tip: Sometimes this property can be used instead of the nodeValue property, but remember that this property returns the text of all child nodes as well.

Tip: To set or return the HTML content of an element, use the innerHTML property.

## Browser Support

The numbers in the table specify the first browser version that fully supports the property.

Property |  |  |  |  |
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
textContent | 1.0 | 9.0 | Yes | Yes | Yes

## Syntax

Return the text content of a node:

node.textContent

Set the text content of a node:

node.textContent=text

## Property Values

Value | Type | Description
--- | --- | ---
text | String | Specifies the text content of the specified node

## Technical Details

Return Value: | A String, representing the text of the node and all its descendants
DOM Version | Core Level 3 Node Object

## More Examples

## Example

Change the textual content of a <p> element with id="myP":

document.getElementById("demo").textContent = "Paragraph changed!";
Try it yourself »

## Example

Get all the textual content of an <ul> element with id="myList":

var x = document.getElementById("myList").textContent;

The value of x will be:

Coffee Tea
Try it yourself »

## Example

This example demonstrates the differences between the textContent and innerHTML property:

function getText() {
var x = document.getElementById("myList").textContent;
document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = x;
}
function getHTML() {
var x = document.getElementById("myList").innerHTML;
document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = x;
}
Try it yourself »

Element Object

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