Summary

previousElementSibling returns the element immediately prior to the specified one in its parent's children list, or null if the specified element is the first one in the list.

Syntax and values

var prevNode = elementNodeReference.previousElementSibling; 

prevNode is a reference to the previous sibling of the element node, or null if there isn't one.

This attribute is read-only.

Example

<div id="div-01">Here is div-01</div>
<div id="div-02">Here is div-02</div>
<li>This is a list item</li>
<li>This is another list item</li>
<div id="div-03">Here is div-03</div>

<script type="text/javascript">
  var el = document.getElementById('div-03').previousElementSibling;
  document.write('<p>Siblings of div-03</p><ol>');
  while (el) {
    document.write('<li>' + el.nodeName + '</li>');
    el = el.previousElementSibling;
  }
  document.write('</ol>');
</script>

This example outputs the following into the page when it loads:

Siblings of div-03

   1. LI
   2. LI
   3. DIV
   4. DIV

Browser compatibility

Specification

Element Traversal Specification: previousElementSibling

See also

• childElementCount
• children
• firstElementChild
• lastElementChild
• nextElementSibling