DOM - Node Object Method - removeChild

The method removeChild is used to remove a specified child node from the current node. Returns the node removed.

Syntax

Following is the syntax for the usage of the removeChild method.

nodeObject.removeChild(Node oldChild)

S.No.	Parameter & Description
1	oldChild Specifies child to be removed. It is of type Node.

This method returns the node removed.

Example

node.xml contents are as below −

<?xml version = "1.0"?>
<Company>
   <Employee category = "Technical">
      <FirstName>Tanmay</FirstName>
      <LastName>Patil</LastName>
      <ContactNo>1234567890</ContactNo>
      <Email>tanmaypatil@xyz.com</Email>
   </Employee>
   
   <Employee category = "Non-Technical">
      <FirstName>Taniya</FirstName>
      <LastName>Mishra</LastName>
      <ContactNo>1234667898</ContactNo>
      <Email>taniyamishra@xyz.com</Email>
   </Employee>
   
   <Employee category = "Management">
      <FirstName>Tanisha</FirstName>
      <LastName>Sharma</LastName>
      <ContactNo>1234562350</ContactNo>
      <Email>tanishasharma@xyz.com</Email>
   </Employee>
</Company>

Following example demonstrates the usage of the removeChild method −

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
   <head>
      <script>
         function loadXMLDoc(filename) {
            if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
               xhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
            } else // code for IE5 and IE6 {
               xhttp = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
            }
            xhttp.open("GET",filename,false);
            xhttp.send();
            return xhttp.responseXML;
         }
      </script>
   </head>
   <body>
      <script>
         xmlDoc = loadXMLDoc("/dom/node.xml");

         f1 = xmlDoc.documentElement;
         f2 = f1.childNodes[5];
         removedNode = f2.removeChild(f2.childNodes[5]);
         document.write("Removed node is : " + removedNode.nodeName);
      </script>
   </body>
</html>

Execution

Save this file as nodemethod_removechild.htm on the server path (this file and node.xml should be on the same path in your server). We will get the output as shown below −

Removed node is : ContactNo

dom_node_object.htm