CharacterData: before() method

The before() method of the CharacterData interface inserts a set of Node objects and strings in the children list of the CharacterData's parent, just before the CharacterData node.

Strings are inserted as Text nodes; the string is being passed as argument to the Text() constructor.

Syntax

before(...nodes)

Parameters

nodes

A set of Node or strings to insert.

Exceptions

HierarchyRequestError DOMException

Thrown when the new nodes cannot be inserted at the specified point in the hierarchy, that is if one of the following conditions is met:

Examples

The before() method allows you to insert new nodes before a CharacterData node leaving the current node's data unchanged.

const h1TextNode = document.querySelector("h1").firstChild;
h1TextNode.before("h1# ");

h1TextNode.parentElement.childNodes;
// NodeList [#text "h1# ", #text "CharacterData.before()"]

h1TextNode.data;
// "CharacterData.before()"

Specifications

Specification
DOM Standard
# ref-for-dom-childnode-before①

Browser compatibility

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See also