JavaScript Node nodeType Property

What You’ll Learn

The Node.nodeType property is an integer that tells you what kind of node you have—element, text, comment, document, and more. Learn the Node.*_NODE constants, nodeType vs nodeName, and five practical examples.

Introduction

Not every DOM node is an element. Whitespace creates text nodes; HTML comments are comment nodes. nodeType is the reliable numeric switch for “what is this?”

Prefer named constants such as Node.ELEMENT_NODE instead of bare numbers so your checks stay readable.

Understanding nodeType

MDN: the read-only nodeType property is an integer that identifies what the node is. It distinguishes elements, text, comments, documents, and other kinds.

• Always an integer for a valid node.
• Compare with Node.ELEMENT_NODE, Node.TEXT_NODE, and friends.
• Read-only — you do not assign to nodeType.
• A few legacy constants are deprecated and unused (see Notes).

📝 Syntax

const type = node.nodeType;

if (type === Node.ELEMENT_NODE) {
  console.log("This is an element");
}

Return value

An integer specifying the node’s type (see the constant table below).

📚 Common nodeType Constants

⚖️ nodeType vs nodeName

Examples Gallery

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

const p = document.createElement("p");
p.textContent = "Once upon a time…";

console.log(p.nodeType);                         // 1
console.log(p.nodeType === Node.ELEMENT_NODE);   // true

1
true

const p = document.createElement("p");
p.textContent = "Once upon a time…";

console.log(p.firstChild.nodeType);                      // 3
console.log(p.firstChild.nodeType === Node.TEXT_NODE);   // true

3
true

const node = document.getElementById("sample").firstChild;

if (node.nodeType !== Node.COMMENT_NODE) {
  console.warn("You should comment your code!");
} else {
  console.log("Found a comment node");
}

You should comment your code!

console.log(document.nodeType === Node.DOCUMENT_NODE); // true

const frag = document.createDocumentFragment();
console.log(frag.nodeType === Node.DOCUMENT_FRAGMENT_NODE); // true

if (document.doctype) {
  console.log(document.doctype.nodeType === Node.DOCUMENT_TYPE_NODE); // true
}

true
true
true

const parent = document.getElementById("list");
const names = [];

for (const child of parent.childNodes) {
  if (child.nodeType === Node.ELEMENT_NODE) {
    names.push(child.nodeName);
  }
}

console.log(names.join(", ")); // "LI, LI, LI"

LI, LI, LI

🚀 Common Use Cases

• Filter childNodes — keep elements; skip whitespace text.
• Tree walks — branch on element vs text vs comment.
• Validate structure — assert a child is a comment or doctype.
• Fragments — detect DOCUMENT_FRAGMENT_NODE before append.
• Debug with nodeName — log both type and name for clarity.

📝 Notes

• Baseline Widely available (MDN, since July 2015).
• The nodeType property is not Deprecated, Experimental, or Non-standard — no status banner required.
• Deprecated unused constants: ENTITY_REFERENCE_NODE (5), ENTITY_NODE (6), NOTATION_NODE (12). Avoid them; they do not deprecate nodeType itself.
• Prefer Node.*_NODE constants over bare integers.
• Related: nodeName, nodeValue, childNodes, nextSibling, JavaScript hub.

💡 Best Practices