How to get an element's full start tag in javascript (not only tagName)?

Question

Is there simple any way to get an element's starting tag in javascript as string? Suppose I have a DOM node which is a html element in a variable, I would like write something similar:

var tagName = element.tagName; //Works
var startingTag = element.startingTag; // Is there any way?
var startingTag = getStartingTag(element);  // Or do I have to write my own function?

Thx for answers

For example this is a starting tag I would like to get into a string:

 <Table class="anyClass" width="100" ... >

where the tagName only gives this: "Table"

Is there a reason you need the full starting tag? To get the attributes? Maybe there's a different way to accomplish what you need — Ian, Jan 25 '13 at 08:02
I need the starting tag as textual information to display in the user interface. I know how to get a specific attribute with DOM — g.pickardou, Jan 25 '13 at 08:03
You could get all the attributes of the element, iterate through them (and their values) and construct the string manually. I don't know how difficult this would be in your situation. Should be right up your alley. — Adrian Marinica, Jan 25 '13 at 08:04
i dont think there is default support to achieve what you want, you can how ever append a function startingTag to the element object vs building a standalone global function — Billybonks, Jan 25 '13 at 08:08

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 25 '13 at 08:08

1

Well, you could do:

var elStr    = element.outerHTML
   ,startTag = elStr.substr(0,elStr.indexOf('>')+1);

Or use the element.attributes if you need information about attributes

answered Jan 25 '13 at 08:08

KooiInc

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Thx :-). outerHtml somehow got out of my scope, because WebStorm intellisense gave me only innerHtml, which definitely not applicable for this task. – g.pickardou Jan 25 '13 at 09:08
This doesn't work in cases like `
`
– Uahnbu Tran Aug 09 '21 at 16:40

Florian Margaine · Answer 2 · 2013-01-25T08:43:13.657

You can loop through the attributes and append them to some string.

function getStartingTag(elem)
    var str = '',
        attr = elem.attributes,
        value;

    // Beginning of tag. toLowerCase() for a cleaner string.
    str += '<' + elem.nodeName.toLowerCase() + ' ';

    for (var i = 0, l = attr.length; i < l; i++) {

        // Safety check.
        value = attr[i].nodeValue.replace('"', '\\"');

        // Append the name + value of the attribute.
        str += attr[i].nodeName + '="' + attr[i].nodeValue + '" ';
    }
    str += '>';

    return str;
}

How to get an element's full start tag in javascript (not only tagName)?

2 Answers2