NodeList
Query results and child lists are a single static NodeList type. There is no separate HTMLCollection — children also returns a NodeList. It is a snapshot taken when produced: later mutations to the tree are not reflected.
A NodeList backs childNodes, children, querySelectorAll, and getElementsByTagNameNS.
Members
| Member | Behaviour |
|---|---|
length |
The number of nodes. |
item(index) |
The node at index, or null (negative or out-of-range → null). |
It is iterable — for…of, spread, and Array.from all work.
const items = document.querySelectorAll("li");
items.length; // e.g. 3
items.item(0); // first <li>, or null
items.item(-1); // null (no negative indexing)
for (const li of items) {
li.classList.add("counted");
}
const titles = Array.from(items, li => li.textContent);Because a NodeList is a snapshot, removing a node during iteration does not shorten the list — the snapshot still holds every node that matched when it was produced.