anchor element creation javascript

Question

I had created an anchor element using createElement() (in both chrome and firefox developer tools) and when I try to display the element in the console, I find blank. When trying the same with div element creation, I can see the element displayed in console correctly. Below is the actual code and output. What is the reason for this? Should not the anchor element output as a: [object HTMLAnchorElement]?

Code: In the console of chrome developer tool

var anchor = document.createElement(‘a’)
console.log(‘anchor: ‘ + anchor)

Output a:

Code:

var div = document.createElement('div')
console.log(‘div: ‘ + div)

Output div: [object HTMLDivElement]

Well the error you would get using them in chrome would be "Uncaught SyntaxError: Invalid or unexpected token" — epascarello
– epascarello, Commented Oct 8, 2016 at 17:35

adeneo · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-07 21:14:41Z

1

The anchor is there, you're just using the console incorrectly.

You're concatenating a string with an object, and anchor.toString() returns an empty string, while with a DIV it would return [object HTMLDivElement].

To solve it, just use the console correctly, either log them seperately

var anchor = document.createElement('a')
console.log('anchor: ')
console.log(anchor)

or use a comma as a seperator

var anchor = document.createElement('a')
console.log('anchor:', anchor)

and you'll log the object as an object, not as a string

answered Oct 7, 2016 at 21:14

adeneo

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2 Comments

raj Over a year ago

Thanks adeneo for you answer. I also want to understand why the anchor.toString() does not return [object HTMLAnchorElement]. Is there any reference that can clarify this. I was not able to find any.

adeneo Over a year ago

@raj - I'm not sure why, you'd think that's exactly what it should return when stringified, but it doesn't, and I couldn't find any references as to why it doesn't?

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