How To Get All Elements By Class Name Duplicate

Imagine you're working on a web development project, and you need to target all elements with a specific class name to make some changes. But wait, what if there are duplicate elements with the same class name? How do you handle that situation? Well, fear not! In this article, we'll explore how you can efficiently get all elements with a duplicate class name using JavaScript. Let's dive in!

To begin, let's first understand the traditional way of selecting elements by class name. When you use the `getElementsByClassName()` method, it returns a live HTMLCollection of elements. In the case of duplicate class names, this method will give you all instances of elements with that class name, not just the first occurrence.

So, how do you handle duplicates specifically? One way is to select all elements with the class name using `document.getElementsByClassName('yourClassName')`. This will return an HTMLCollection. Next, you can convert this HTMLCollection into an array to work with it more easily.

Here's a simple example of converting the HTMLCollection to an array:

let elementsArray = Array.from(document.getElementsByClassName('yourClassName'));

Once you have an array of elements, you can now manipulate them individually or collectively as needed. For instance, you can iterate through the array using a loop to perform actions on each element.

To demonstrate this, let's iterate through the array of elements and log their inner text to the console:

elementsArray.forEach(element => {
    console.log(element.innerText);
});

This loop will output the inner text of each element with the specified class name. You can modify the code within the loop to suit your specific requirements, such as applying styles, adding event listeners, or any other manipulation.

Another method you can use is the newer `document.querySelectorAll()` method, which returns a static NodeList of elements that match the specified selectors. When you use this method with a class selector, it will also return all elements with the specified class name, including duplicates.

Here's an example using `document.querySelectorAll('.yourClassName')` to target all elements with the class name 'yourClassName'. You can then iterate through the NodeList similarly to how you would with an array.

let elements = document.querySelectorAll('.yourClassName');
elements.forEach(element => {
    console.log(element.textContent);
});

In conclusion, handling duplicate class names when selecting elements in JavaScript is easily achievable by converting the returned HTMLCollection or NodeList into an array. This allows you to work with the elements effectively and perform actions on them as needed. Try out these techniques in your projects and see how you can manage and manipulate elements with duplicate class names effortlessly!