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JavaScript JavaScript and the DOM (Retiring) Getting a Handle on the DOM Select All Elements of a Particular Type

Posted by meghana Joshi
meghana Joshi
4,596 Points

I tried to use the forEach method and it does not work

const mylist = document.getElementsByTagName('li');
mylist.forEach(item =>item.style.color = 'purple');

I am getting an error forEach is not a function. Can anyone explain me why it does not work?

1 Answer

Alfonso Montano
Alfonso Montano
2,970 Points
Alfonso Montano
Alfonso Montano
2,970 Points

The reason is because document.getElementsByTagName returns an HTMLCollection not an array

To solve this you can use ES6 Array.from method

Try this: 

const mylist = document.getElementsByTagName("li");

Array.from(mylist).forEach(item => {
    item.style.color = "purple";
});
meghana Joshi
meghana Joshi
4,596 Points

thanks that worked. I also tried 

const mylist = document.querySelectorAll('li');
mylist.forEach(item => item.style.color = "red");

which also worked