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JavaScript JavaScript and the DOM (Retiring) Getting a Handle on the DOM Selection Review

Fernando Jimenez
PLUS
Fernando Jimenez
Courses Plus Student 8,455 Points
Posted by Fernando Jimenez
Fernando Jimenez
Courses Plus Student 8,455 Points

How come this is the wrong answer for this question?

How would you select the body element using document.getElementsByTagName, and store it in the variable body?

(Hint: Don't forget that this method returns a collection, not a single element.)

const body = document.getElementsByTagName("body");

Why is document.getElementsByTagName("body"); wrong?

1 Answer

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,268 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,268 Points

Well, that hint about returning a collection is the clue. The instructions ask for an element, but the function returns a collection.

Since an HTMLCollection is like an array in many ways, it can be indexed. So an easy way to get a single element from a collection is to apply an index to it. And since a document only has one "body", you know the collection's only element will be at index 0.