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links collection

Browser support:
Represents a collection of all anchor and area elements in the current document that have a href property specified.
The elements in the collection are sorted in source code order.
  • If you need a collection of named anchor elements, use the anchors collection.
  • If you need a collection of all area elements in the document, use the areas collection.

Syntax:

Properties that reference the object:
document.links
The base interface, through which you can add new functionalities to the links collection, is the HTMLCollection interface.

Possible members:

Properties:
length
Returns an integer that specifies the number of elements in the current collection.

This property is read-only.
Methods:
[nameOrIndex]
Returns an element or a collection of elements from the current collection by name or index.

Parameters:

nameOrIndex
Required. A string or a zero-based integer that specifies the element or elements to retrieve.
  • If an integer value is specified, it specifies the index of the element to retrieve.
  • If this parameter is a string, then it specifies a value for the name or id property of the element or elements to retrieve.
Internet Explorer does not support string values.

Return value:

  • If no match is found, it returns undefined.
  • If exactly one match is found, it returns the matching anchor or area element.
  • If more than one match is found, it returns a links sub-collection filled with the matching elements. The sub-collection contains the matching elements in source order.
In Firefox, if more than one match is found, the first matching element is returned.
item (nameOrIndex [, subIndex])
Returns an element or a collection of elements from the current collection by name or index.

Parameters:

nameOrIndex
Required. A string or a zero-based integer that specifies the element or elements to retrieve.
  • If an integer value is specified, it specifies the index of the element to retrieve.
  • If this parameter is a string, then it specifies a value for the name or id property of the element or elements to retrieve.
Firefox does not support string values.
subIndex
Optional. Supported by Internet Explorer only. If more than one matching element is found for the index parameter (possible only if it is a string), the item method creates a links sub-collection filled with the matching elements. In that case, the subIndex property specifies the position of the element in the sub-collection to retrieve. In other cases, the subIndex property has no meaning.

Return value:

  • If no match is found, it returns null in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera, and returns undefined in Google Chrome and Safari.
  • If exactly one match is found, it returns the matching anchor or area element.
  • If more than one match is found, it returns a links sub-collection filled with the matching elements. The sub-collection contains the matching elements in source order.
namedItem (name)
Returns an element or a collection of elements from the current collection by name.

Parameters:

name
Required. String that specifies a value for the name or id property of the element or elements to retrieve.

Return value:

  • If no match is found, it returns null in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera, and returns undefined in Google Chrome and Safari.
  • If exactly one match is found, it returns the matching anchor or area element.
  • If more than one match is found, it returns a links sub-collection filled with the matching elements. The sub-collection contains the matching elements in source order.
In Firefox, if more than one match is found, the first matching element is returned.
tags
Returns a NodeList collection that contains all elements from the current collection with the specified tag name.
urns
Returns a NodeList collection that contains all elements to which the specified behavior is attached.

Example HTML code 1:

This example illustrates the use of the links collection:
<head>
    <script type="text/javascript">
        function GetLinks () {
            message = "";
            for (var i = 0; i < document.links.length; i++) {
                var link = document.links[i];
                message += "The href property of the " + i + ". link is '" + link.href + "'.\n";
            }
            alert (message);
        }
    </script>
</head>
<body>
    <button onclick="GetLinks ();">Get links on the page!</button>
    <br /><br />
    Table of contents:
    <ul>
        <li><a href="#section1">1. Section</a></li>
        <li><a href="#section2">2. Section</a></li>
        <li><a href="#section3">3. Section</a></li>
    </ul>

    <b><a name="section1">1. Section</a></b><br />
    First line in the section.<br />...<br />...<br />...<br />
    Last line in the section.<br /><br />

    <b><a name="section2">2. Section</a></b><br />
    First line in the section.<br />...<br />...<br />...<br />
    Last line in the section.<br /><br />

    <b><a name="section3">3. Section</a></b><br />
    First line in the section.<br />...<br />...<br />...<br />
    Last line in the section.<br /><br />
</body>
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