CharacterData: before() method

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since April 2018.

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

js
before(...nodes)

Parameters

nodes

A set of Node objects or strings to insert.

Return value

None (undefined).

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.

js
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
# ref-for-dom-childnode-before①

Browser compatibility

desktop mobile
Chrome
Edge
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Chrome Android
Firefox for Android
Opera Android
Safari on iOS
Samsung Internet
WebView Android
WebView on iOS
before
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 54 (Release date: 2016-10-12)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 17 (Release date: 2018-04-30)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 49 (Release date: 2016-09-20)
footnote Full support
Opera – Full support
Opera 39 (Release date: 2016-08-02)
footnote Full support
Safari – Full support
Safari 10 (Release date: 2016-09-20)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 54 (Release date: 2016-10-19)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 49 (Release date: 2016-09-20)
footnote Full support
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 41 (Release date: 2016-10-25)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – Full support
Safari on iOS 10 (Release date: 2016-09-13)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 6 (Release date: 2017-08-23)
footnote Full support
WebView Android – Full support
WebView Android 54 (Release date: 2016-10-19)
footnote Full support
WebView on iOS – Full support
WebView on iOS 10 (Release date: 2016-09-13)
footnote Full support

Legend

Tip: you can click/tap on a cell for more information.

Full support
Full support

See also