Remove dom element without knowing its parent?

Question

Is it possible to remove a dom element that has no parent other than the body tag? I know this would be easy with a framework like jquery, but I'm trying to stick to straight javascript.

Here's the code I've found to do it otherwise:

function removeElement(parentDiv, childDiv){
     if (childDiv == parentDiv) {
          alert("The parent div cannot be removed.");
     }
     else if (document.getElementById(childDiv)) {     
          var child = document.getElementById(childDiv);
          var parent = document.getElementById(parentDiv);
          parent.removeChild(child);
     }
     else {
          alert("Child div has already been removed or does not exist.");
          return false;
     }
}

Thanks!

@adam `document` isn't an element, it's a node (document node) and therefore not classed as a element — iConnor, Jan 13 '14 at 10:10
Document fragments which aren't added to the tree don't have parents. — David Given, Feb 19 '16 at 21:38

Adam Hopkinson · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-14T16:46:50.793

106

You should be able to get the parent of the element, then remove the element from that

function removeElement(el) {
el.parentNode.removeChild(el);
}

Update

You can set this as a new method on the HTMLElement:

HTMLElement.prototype.remove = function() { this.parentNode.removeChild(this); return this; }

And then do el.remove() (which will also return the element)

edited Jul 14 '16 at 16:46

answered Nov 26 '09 at 18:03

Adam Hopkinson

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Updating to the correct answer because it is more modular / inclusive of different scenarios. Thanks. – Matrym Nov 20 '12 at 03:18

swervo · Answer 2 · 2017-08-14T11:18:59.717

21

childDiv.remove();

works in Chrome 25.0.1364.155

Note that this does not work in IE11 or Opera Mini but is supported by all other browsers.

See here: reference to childnode-remove on caniuse

edited Aug 14 '17 at 11:18

answered Mar 18 '13 at 15:12

swervo

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As documented here https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/ChildNode/remove - including a polyfill – commonpike Sep 30 '15 at 09:55
1

Just tested it. `$("#answer-15480206").remove()` but then I had to refresh the page to upvote you. – Chase Roberts Aug 13 '16 at 03:36

score 16 · Answer 3 · edited Sep 07 '13 at 14:12

16

I think you can do something like...

var child = document.getElementById(childDiv);
//var parent = document.getElementById(parentDiv);
child.parentNode.removeChild(child);

See node.parentNode for more info on that.

edited Sep 07 '13 at 14:12

DisgruntledGoat

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answered Nov 26 '09 at 18:04

Robert K

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score 6 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 26 '09 at 18:03

6

document.body.removeChild(child);

answered Nov 26 '09 at 18:03

Gregoire

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@unknown: this answer only works for nodes that are immediate descendants of `document.body`. The other answers work for all cases, including descendants of `document.body`. – Crescent Fresh Nov 26 '09 at 18:21
1

As above, this answer only works on elements that are immediate descendants of body. Can someone moderate this? – Adam Hopkinson Nov 27 '09 at 12:22
1

read the question: «a dom element that has no parent other than the body tag», so my response is perfectly valable – Gregoire Nov 27 '09 at 14:04

score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 19 '13 at 05:09

4

Removing element using outerHTML property

remElement(document.getElementById('title'));
remElement(document.getElementById('alpha'));

function remElement(obj) {
obj.outerHTML="";
}

answered Sep 19 '13 at 05:09

vusan

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Saranga Jayaruwan · Answer 6 · 2016-12-07T04:23:00.913

1

This function to simply remove an element using id:

function removeElement (id) { 
  document.getElementById(id).parentElement.removeChild(document.getElementById(id));
}

edited Dec 07 '16 at 04:23

answered Dec 06 '16 at 17:30

Saranga Jayaruwan

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Alireza · Answer 7 · 2017-05-17T12:39:45.200

OK, you basically don't need to know the parent to delete a DOM element from DOM, look at the below code, see how is the order to delete a node element in JavaScript:

Element + parentNode + removeChild(Element);

As you see we find the element first, then using .parentNode and then remove the child which is the Element again, so we don't need to know the parent at all!

So now look the real code:

var navigation = document.getElementById('navigation');
if(navigation) {
  navigation.parentNode.removeChild(navigation);
}

or as a function

function removeNode(element) {
  if(element) { //check if it's not null
    element.parentNode.removeChild(element);
  } 
} //call it like : removeNode(document.getElementById('navigation'));

Also jQuery has remove() function which is widely use, like:

$('#navigation').remove();

Also there is native ChildNode.remove() which is not in IE and old browsers, but you can polyfill it, look the suggested polyfill from MDN:

Polyfill
You can polyfill the remove() method in Internet Explorer 9 and higher with the following code:

//from:https://github.com/jserz/js_piece/blob/master/DOM/ChildNode/remove()/remove().md
(function (arr) {
  arr.forEach(function (item) {
    if (item.hasOwnProperty('remove')) {
      return;
    }
    Object.defineProperty(item, 'remove', {
      configurable: true,
      enumerable: true,
      writable: true,
      value: function remove() {
        this.parentNode.removeChild(this);
      }
    });
  });
})([Element.prototype, CharacterData.prototype, DocumentType.prototype]);

If you like to learn more about it, visit this link on MDN.

Remove dom element without knowing its parent?

7 Answers7

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