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attribute methods

Modifying Attributes Methods

Method NameDescription
getAttribute()Used to retrieve an attribute value
setAttribute()Used to assign an attribute to an element
removeAttribute()Used to remove an attribute from an element
  • getAttribute()

Syntax for this method is as follows:

Variable = element.node.getAttribute("attribute name", "attribute value");
var x = document.getElementsByTagName("p")[0].getAttribute("align");
  • setAttribute()

Syntax for this method is as follows:

element.node.setAttribute("attribute name", "attribute value");
document.getElementsByTagName("p")[0].setAttribute("align","right");

This method is often used with event handlers like onclick() or onmouseover() to change an aspect of a website based on user input.

  • removeAttribute()

Syntax for this method is as follows:

element.node.removeAttribute("attribute name");
document.getElementsByTagName("p")[0].removeAttribute("align");

Let’s look at a quick example of these attributes in action:

<html>
<head>
  <title>Setting and removing attributes</title>

  <script type="text/javascript">
   function onmousefont(){
    document.getElementsByTagName("font")[0].setAttribute("size","7");
   }
   function offmousefont(){
    document.getElementsByTagName("font")[0].removeAttribute("size");
   }
</script>

</head>
<body>
   <font onmouseover="onmousefont();" onmouseout="offmousefont();">Mouse over me! </font>
</body>
</html>

In the example above, using event handlers we are able to change the font size of the text based on mouse movement.

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