Element: append() method

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.

The Element.append() method inserts a set of Node objects or strings after the last child of the Element. Strings are inserted as equivalent Text nodes.

Differences from Node.appendChild():

  • Element.append() allows you to also append strings, whereas Node.appendChild() only accepts Node objects.
  • Element.append() has no return value, whereas Node.appendChild() returns the appended Node object.
  • Element.append() can append several nodes and strings, whereas Node.appendChild() can only append one node.

Syntax

js
append(param1)
append(param1, param2)
append(param1, param2, /* …, */ paramN)

Parameters

param1, …, paramN

A set of Node objects or strings to insert.

Return value

None (undefined).

Exceptions

HierarchyRequestError DOMException

Thrown when the node cannot be inserted at the specified point in the hierarchy.

Examples

Appending an element

js
let div = document.createElement("div");
let p = document.createElement("p");
div.append(p);

console.log(div.childNodes); // NodeList [ <p> ]

Appending text

js
let div = document.createElement("div");
div.append("Some text");

console.log(div.textContent); // "Some text"

Appending an element and text

js
let div = document.createElement("div");
let p = document.createElement("p");
div.append("Some text", p);

console.log(div.childNodes); // NodeList [ #text "Some text", <p> ]

The append method is unscopable

The append() method is not scoped into the with statement. See Symbol.unscopables for more information.

js
let div = document.createElement("div");

with (div) {
  append("foo");
}
// ReferenceError: append is not defined

Specifications

Specification
DOM Standard
# ref-for-dom-parentnode-append①

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also