Node: isSameNode() method

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since August 2016.

See full compatibility

The isSameNode() method of the Node interface is a legacy alias the for the === strict equality operator. That is, it tests whether two nodes are the same (in other words, whether they reference the same object).

Note: There is no need to use isSameNode(); instead use the === strict equality operator.

Syntax

isSameNode(otherNode)

Parameters

otherNode: The Node to test against.

Note: This parameter is not optional, but can be set to null.

Return value

A boolean value that is true if both nodes are strictly equal, false if not.

Example

In this example, we create three <div> blocks. The first and third have the same contents and attributes, while the second is different. Then we run some JavaScript to compare the nodes using isSameNode() and output the results.

HTML

html

<div>This is the first element.</div>
<div>This is the second element.</div>
<div>This is the first element.</div>

<p id="output"></p>

#output {
  width: 440px;
  border: 2px solid black;
  border-radius: 5px;
  padding: 10px;
  margin-top: 20px;
  display: block;
}

JavaScript

const output = document.getElementById("output");
const divList = document.getElementsByTagName("div");

output.innerText += `div 0 same as div 0: ${divList[0].isSameNode(
  divList[0],
)}\n`;
output.innerText += `div 0 same as div 1: ${divList[0].isSameNode(
  divList[1],
)}\n`;
output.innerText += `div 0 same as div 2: ${divList[0].isSameNode(
  divList[2],
)}\n`;

Results

Specifications

Specification
DOM # dom-node-issamenode

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
`isSameNode`	Chrome – Full support Chrome 1 (Release date: 2008-12-11) footnote Full support	Edge – Full support Edge 12 (Release date: 2015-07-29) footnote Full support	Firefox – No support Firefox 1 – 9 (Release date: 2004-11-09) footnote Removed in 10 and later Firefox – Full support Firefox 48 (Release date: 2016-08-02) footnote Full support	Opera – Full support Opera 12.1 (Release date: 2012-11-20) footnote Full support	Safari – Full support Safari 3 (Release date: 2007-10-26) footnote Full support	Chrome Android – Full support Chrome Android 18 (Release date: 2012-06-27) footnote Full support	Firefox for Android – No support Firefox for Android 4 – 9 (Release date: 2011-03-29) footnote Removed in 10 and later Firefox for Android – Full support Firefox for Android 48 (Release date: 2016-08-02) footnote Full support	Opera Android – Full support Opera Android 12.1 (Release date: 2012-10-09) footnote Full support	Safari on iOS – Full support Safari on iOS 1 (Release date: 2007-06-29) footnote Full support	Samsung Internet – Full support Samsung Internet 1 (Release date: 2013-04-27) footnote Full support	WebView Android – Full support WebView Android 4.4 (Release date: 2013-12-09) footnote Full support	WebView on iOS – Full support WebView on iOS 1 (Release date: 2007-06-29) footnote Full support

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Full support: Full support
: Has more compatibility info.

Node: isSameNode() method

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