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alignContent alignItems alignSelf animation animationDelay animationDirection animationDuration animationFillMode animationIterationCount animationName animationTimingFunction animationPlayState background backgroundAttachment backgroundColor backgroundImage backgroundPosition backgroundRepeat backgroundClip backgroundOrigin backgroundSize backfaceVisibility border borderBottom borderBottomColor borderBottomLeftRadius borderBottomRightRadius borderBottomStyle borderBottomWidth borderCollapse borderColor borderImage borderImageOutset borderImageRepeat borderImageSlice borderImageSource borderImageWidth borderLeft borderLeftColor borderLeftStyle borderLeftWidth borderRadius borderRight borderRightColor borderRightStyle borderRightWidth borderSpacing borderStyle borderTop borderTopColor borderTopLeftRadius borderTopRightRadius borderTopStyle borderTopWidth borderWidth bottom boxShadow boxSizing captionSide clear clip color columnCount columnFill columnGap columnRule columnRuleColor columnRuleStyle columnRuleWidth columns columnSpan columnWidth counterIncrement counterReset cursor direction display emptyCells filter flex flexBasis flexDirection flexFlow flexGrow flexShrink flexWrap cssFloat font fontFamily fontSize fontStyle fontVariant fontWeight fontSizeAdjust height isolation justifyContent left letterSpacing lineHeight listStyle listStyleImage listStylePosition listStyleType margin marginBottom marginLeft marginRight marginTop maxHeight maxWidth minHeight minWidth objectFit objectPosition opacity order orphans outline outlineColor outlineOffset outlineStyle outlineWidth overflow overflowX overflowY padding paddingBottom paddingLeft paddingRight paddingTop pageBreakAfter pageBreakBefore pageBreakInside perspective perspectiveOrigin position quotes resize right tableLayout tabSize textAlign textAlignLast textDecoration textDecorationColor textDecorationLine textDecorationStyle textIndent textOverflow textShadow textTransform top transform transformOrigin transformStyle transition transitionProperty transitionDuration transitionTimingFunction transitionDelay unicodeBidi userSelect verticalAlign visibility width wordBreak wordSpacing wordWrap widows zIndex
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Other References

CSSStyleDeclaration JS Conversion


HTML DOM parentElement Property

Element Object

Example

Get the node name of the parent element of a <li> element:

var x = document.getElementById("myLI").parentElement.nodeName;
Try it Yourself »

More "Try it Yourself" examples below.


Definition and Usage

The parentElement property returns the parent element of the specified element.

The difference between parentElement and parentNode, is that parentElement returns null if the parent node is not an element node:

document.body.parentNode; // Returns the <html> element
document.body.parentElement; // Returns the <html> element

document.documentElement.parentNode; // Returns the Document node
document.documentElement.parentElement; // Returns null (<html> does not have a parent ELEMENT node)

In most cases, it does not matter which property you use, however, parentNode is probably the most popular.

This property is read-only.


Browser Support

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

Property
parentElement 1.0 Yes 9.0 Yes Yes


Syntax

node.parentElement

Technical Details

Return Value: An Element object, representing the parent element node of a node, or null if the node has no parent
DOM Version DOM Level 4 Element Object

More Examples

Example

Click on an element (<span>) to hide its parent element (<div>):

<div>
  <span onclick="this.parentElement.style.display = 'none';">x</span>
</div>
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Element Object