OwnerElement

OwnerElement is a property of attribute nodes in the Document Object Model (DOM). It refers to the Element node that owns a given attribute, providing a way to navigate from an attribute to the element it belongs to.

Definition and behavior

The ownerElement property is read-only and returns the Element that contains the attribute. If the attribute is not currently attached to any element (for example, it has been created but not appended, or it has been removed from its element), ownerElement is null. In typical usage, you obtain an Attr node (for instance via element.getAttributeNode or a related method) and then read its ownerElement to identify the element that owns that attribute. When the attribute is added to or removed from an element, the ownerElement value updates accordingly.

Usage and context

OwnerElement is useful in scripts that process or mutate attributes and need context about which element they belong to. It is distinct from other related properties such as ownerDocument (which points to the document that contains the node) and from the element’s attributes collection. In practice, you might access it as attr.ownerElement and then perform operations on that element.

Compatibility

The ownerElement property is supported across major browsers for both HTML and XML documents, with behavior aligning to standard DOM specifications. As with any DOM feature, developers should be mindful of differences in older or non-conforming environments and test in target browsers.

See also

Node.ownerDocument, Element, Attr, and standard DOM Core/HTML specifications.