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JavaScript JavaScript and the DOM Getting a Handle on the DOM Select an Element by ID

Posted by Peter Huang
Peter Huang
5,427 Points

Why use get " document.getElementById " instead of querySelector for everything?

And same goes for Tag name or Class name. Why dont we just use querySelector / querySelectorAll for all and less memorizing to do?

1 Answer

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,269 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,269 Points

Assuming you're also using the tag name (but with "#" prefixed) as the argument for querySelector the only advantage to getElementById is that it is internally more efficient. If it's not being used in a loop, it probably doesn't make any practical difference and you can use either one as you prefer.

Note that getElementById can only return one element, so it's not interchangeable with querySelectorAll.