I have a bunch of elements on a page that are formatted like below:

<div class="longdesc">
 <pre style="...">
   //stuff here
 </pre>
</div>
<div class="longdesc">
 <pre style="...">
   //stuff here
 </pre>
</div>

I'm trying to replace some of the content inside the <pre> tag but I'm having trouble.

(function () {    
    var nodes = document.getElementsByClassName("longdesc");
    for (var n=0; n<nodes.length; n++) {
        var node = nodes[n].getElementsByName("pre");
        node[0].textContent = node[0].textContent.replace("<", "&lt;");
        //other code
    }
})();

VM5185:4 Uncaught TypeError: nodes[n].getElementsByName is not a function

I only need the first pre in each longdesc. How can I do this?

I have a bunch of elements on a page that are formatted like below:

<div class="longdesc">
 <pre style="...">
   //stuff here
 </pre>
</div>
<div class="longdesc">
 <pre style="...">
   //stuff here
 </pre>
</div>

I'm trying to replace some of the content inside the <pre> tag but I'm having trouble.

(function () {    
    var nodes = document.getElementsByClassName("longdesc");
    for (var n=0; n<nodes.length; n++) {
        var node = nodes[n].getElementsByName("pre");
        node[0].textContent = node[0].textContent.replace("<", "&lt;");
        //other code
    }
})();

VM5185:4 Uncaught TypeError: nodes[n].getElementsByName is not a function

I only need the first pre in each longdesc. How can I do this?

• javascript

Share Improve this question Follow asked Mar 29, 2016 at 18:56 user736893user736893 3

• 1 You need .getElementsByTagName("pre"); – The Process Commented Mar 29, 2016 at 18:57
• please post as answer... – user736893 Commented Mar 29, 2016 at 18:59
• See the reason why stackoverflow./a/70055419/560287 – John Magnolia Commented Aug 17, 2022 at 6:26

Add a ment  | 

2 Answers 2

Sorted by: Reset to default 2

try this:

(function () {    
    var nodes = document.getElementsByClassName("longdesc");
    for (var n=0; n<nodes.length; n++) {
        var node = nodes[n].getElementsByTagName("pre");
        node[0].textContent = node[0].textContent.replace("<", "&lt;");
        //other code
    }
})();

Try using getElementsByTagName() instead.

http://www.w3schools./jsref/met_element_getelementsbytagname.asp