Now although most modern browser support document.querySelectorAll(), you may run into problems with older versions of Internet Explorer. The obvious way of checking if the browser supports a function would be:

if(document.querySelectorAll){
    //some random code
}

But from what I understand some browsers like (IE8) don't support certain properties, like 'body *'. Is there a better way to check if document.querySelectorAll('body *') will actually work?

Now although most modern browser support document.querySelectorAll(), you may run into problems with older versions of Internet Explorer. The obvious way of checking if the browser supports a function would be:

if(document.querySelectorAll){
    //some random code
}

But from what I understand some browsers like (IE8) don't support certain properties, like 'body *'. Is there a better way to check if document.querySelectorAll('body *') will actually work?

• javascript
• internet-explorer
• dom
• cross-browser
• document

Share Improve this question Follow edited Mar 11, 2014 at 10:57 user2428118 8,12444 gold badges4646 silver badges7373 bronze badges asked Mar 9, 2014 at 19:16 OodOod 1,83544 gold badges2727 silver badges5050 bronze badges 7

• 1 IE8 supports CSS2 selectors only, but wouldn't body * be a CSS2 selector ? – adeneo Commented Mar 9, 2014 at 19:17
• Exactly that's the problem I'm having. I am looking for a way to test this. – Ood Commented Mar 9, 2014 at 19:18
• What does body * do in IE8? – Felix Kling Commented Mar 9, 2014 at 19:18
• I don't think you understood, wouldn't body * work in IE8, it looks like a CSS2 selector to me, and should work ? – adeneo Commented Mar 9, 2014 at 19:19
• What says the console? – Adrian Preuss Commented Mar 9, 2014 at 19:19

 |  Show 2 more ments

3 Answers 3

Sorted by: Reset to default 5

document.querySelectorAll will thrown on any unsupported selector so you can simply use a try-catch block.

Check browser supports or not , without try-catch :

function QuerySelectors() {
  return (document['querySelector']&&document['querySelectorAll'])!=null;
}

or

function QuerySelectors(){
  return typeof(document['querySelector'])=='function'&&typeof(document['querySelectorAll'])=='function';
}

Read more > Reference

Use typeof to check it:

 if(typeof(document.querySelectorAll) != 'undefined'){
      //some random code
 }