Removing a parentless HTML element

Question

I want to remove the temporary element which is created dynamically.

x = document.createElement("DIV");
x.innerHTML = res;
y = x.parentNode;
x = y.removeChild(x);
x = null;

I've written those codes but since it does note have a parent, they dont work. I know i can create a second temp node to keep first one but then i need a third node to delete the second one.... :) Here i need a function to delete the node without needing a parent node. I also think that i can put the node to directly to document object and delete it, but i'm looking for more efficient solutions if exists.

If you never add the element to the DOM, then you don't need to remove it from the DOM AFAIK. — Chris Shouts, Mar 04 '11 at 15:03
BTW, this question is almost the same as your previous one: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5194924/does-removechild-really-delete-the-element — RoToRa, Mar 04 '11 at 15:49

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 04 '11 at 15:04

You need not remove the node, since it is not added to the DOM. When you set the variable to null, the element will cease to exist. In general, DOM nodes will always have a parent, provided they're added to the model, but here you don't do that in your code.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 04 '11 at 15:04

1

removeChild is just from removing an element from a document. Since your element isn't part of a document, you don't need to use it. Just make sure that you don't have kept any references to the element in your code, for example by setting the variable(s) to null just as you are doing, and JavaScript automatic garbage collection will take care of the rest.

If your variable is a local variable in a function, then you don't even need to set it to null, because it will cease to exist on it's own.

There is no direct way to "delete" an object in JavaScript.

answered Mar 04 '11 at 15:04

RoToRa

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Objects **can** be deleted, with certain limitations - https://developer.mozilla.org/en/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/Special_Operators/delete_Operator – Chris Shouts Mar 04 '11 at 15:38
Hmm. The `delete` operator removes the property of an object, not the object itself. For the purpose here, it doesn't do more that setting to `null` (or `undefined`). – RoToRa Mar 04 '11 at 15:46

Removing a parentless HTML element

2 Answers2