JavaScript Node nextSibling Property

What You’ll Learn

The Node.nextSibling property returns the next node in the parent’s childNodes list, or null if none. Learn the whitespace #text gotcha, nextSibling vs nextElementSibling, and how to walk siblings in a loop.

Introduction

Siblings share the same parent. nextSibling moves one step forward in that parent’s child list. Use previousSibling to move the other way.

The beginner surprise: pretty-printed HTML inserts whitespace text nodes between tags, so nextSibling is often #text instead of the next element you see on the page.

Understanding nextSibling

MDN: the read-only nextSibling property returns the node immediately following this one in the parent’s childNodes, or null if this node is the last child.

• Can be an element, text node, comment, or other node type.
• Whitespace between sibling tags creates #text nodes.
• Opposite direction: previousSibling.
• Read-only — you do not assign to nextSibling.

📝 Syntax

const next = node.nextSibling;
if (next) {
  console.log(next.nodeName);
}

Return value

A Node, or null if there is no next sibling.

⚖️ nextSibling vs nextElementSibling

Examples Gallery

Examples follow MDN Node.nextSibling patterns. Use View Output or Try It Yourself for each case.

// <div id="div-1">Here is div-1</div>
// <div id="div-2">Here is div-2</div>

const d1 = document.getElementById("div-1");
console.log(d1.nextSibling.nodeName); // often "#text"

#text

// <div id="div-1">A</div><div id="div-2">B</div>

const d1 = document.getElementById("div-1");
console.log(d1.nextSibling.nodeName); // "DIV"
console.log(d1.nextSibling.id);       // "div-2"

DIV
div-2

const d1 = document.getElementById("div-1");
console.log(d1.nextSibling.nodeName);           // often "#text"
console.log(d1.nextElementSibling.nodeName);    // "DIV"
console.log(d1.nextElementSibling.id);          // "div-2"

#text
DIV
div-2

const last = document.getElementById("div-2");
console.log(last.nextSibling); // null (if it is the last child)

if (last.nextSibling) {
  console.log(last.nextSibling.nodeName);
} else {
  console.log("No next sibling");
}

null
No next sibling

let el = document.getElementById("div-1").nextSibling;
let i = 1;
let result = "Siblings of div-1:\n";

while (el) {
  result += `${i}. ${el.nodeName}\n`;
  el = el.nextSibling;
  i++;
}

console.log(result);

Siblings of div-1:
1. #text
2. DIV
3. #text
4. BR
5. #text
6. OUTPUT

🚀 Common Use Cases

• Sibling walks — list or process every node after a starting point.
• Teach whitespace — show why indented HTML creates #text between tags.
• Prefer elements for UI — switch to nextElementSibling for tags.
• Pair with previousSibling — move both directions in childNodes.
• Custom list logic — advance from one item node without re-querying the DOM.

📝 Notes

• Baseline Widely available (MDN, since July 2015).
• Not Deprecated, Experimental, or Non-standard — no status banner required.
• Whitespace and comments can be the next sibling.
• Use nextElementSibling when you only want elements.
• Related: lastChild, nodeName, firstChild, childNodes, JavaScript hub.

💡 Best Practices