The getElementsByTagName Method in JavaScript

The getElementsByTagName() method returns a collection of all elements with the specified tag name.

This method is often used when you want to retrieve all elements of a specific type, such as all <p> tags or <div> tags on the page.

Syntax

document.getElementsByTagName(tagName);

• tagName: The name of the tag you want to find (e.g., 'p', 'div', 'li').

This method returns an HTMLCollection, which is a live list of elements.

Example

const paragraphs = document.getElementsByTagName('p');
console.log(paragraphs.length); 
// Outputs the number of <p> elements

for (let i = 0; i < paragraphs.length; i++) {
  console.log(paragraphs[i].textContent);
}

Notes

• This method is case-insensitive in HTML, so 'p' and 'P' are treated the same.
• If no elements are found, it returns an empty collection, not null.

Use this method when you want to get multiple elements of the same tag type and iterate through them.