Remove all content using pure JS
Asked Answered
G

11

38

I'm looking for a way to remove the entire content of a web page using pure Javascript -- no libraries.

I tried:

document.documentElement.innerHTML = "whatever";

but that doesn't work: it replaces the inside of the <html/> element. I'm looking at replacing the entire document, including if possible the doctype and <?xml declaration.

Godin answered 22/11, 2010 at 0:56 Comment(6)
location = 'about:blank'Viceroy
To what end? Javascript works on the DOM which is a higher-level than the underlying HTML serialization (i.e. where the <?xml and doctype are).Garber
@Yi Jiang This works, but I actually want to stay on the same domain...Oberg
@Yi Jiang +1 for a good suggestion (if you want to leave it as an answer, I'll remove my edit :) )Calvincalvina
I mourn the passing of the static web page, with the associated ability to look at the source code of any web page to understand how it was constructed and how it all works.Sustain
Constructing web pages dynamically, with no content: codepen.io/applecrazy/pen/mEJjXrSustain
C
50

I think a browser rightfully assumes a page with content-type text/html will always be a web page - so whilst you may do something like...

document.body.innerHTML = '';

It will still have some HTML hanging around.

You could try...

document.documentElement.innerHTML = '';

...which left me with <html></html>.

Yi Jiang did suggest something clever.

window.location = 'about:blank';

This will take you to a blank page - an internal mechanism provided by most browsers I believe.

I think however the best solution is to use document.open() which will clear the screen.

Calvincalvina answered 22/11, 2010 at 1:1 Comment(5)
The first updated answer was half of what I was looking for. But I guess changing the doctype is asking a bit too much...Oberg
@passcod Once you change the doctype too, you are changing how the browser will render your HTML/CSS. This will probably entail a page reload. I don't think you can change a doctype on the fly.Calvincalvina
@Calvincalvina changing window.location to 'about:blank' has a problem with IE specialy IE10 because some addons when detect about:blank page fill it with their contentsReactivate
My solution seems more appropriate, and avoids the about:blank hack.Rounds
@MathiasLykkegaardLorenzen I forgot to add that to my answer, as I suggested here.Calvincalvina
G
4
var i = document.childNodes.length - 1;

while (i >= 0) {
  console.log(document.childNodes[i]);
  document.removeChild(document.childNodes[i--]);
}

Removes everything (doctype also) on FF 3.6, Chrome 3.195, and Safari 4.0. IE8 breaks since the child wants to remove its parent.


Revisiting a while later, could also be done like this:

while (document.firstChild) {
  document.removeChild(document.firstChild);
}
Gingham answered 22/11, 2010 at 1:6 Comment(2)
Great, but you still can't change the doctype... which doesn't matter much. Firefox crashed when I tried...Oberg
Is your question "How to change the doctype" or "Remove all content with pure JS"?Gingham
R
3

According to Dotoro's article on the document.clear method, they (since it's deprecated) recommend calling document.open instead, which clears the page, since it starts a new stream.

This way, you avoid the nasty about:blank hack.

Rounds answered 24/10, 2014 at 19:17 Comment(0)
M
3

One can remove both the <html> element (document.documentElement) and the doctype (document.doctype).

document.doctype.remove();
document.documentElement.remove();

Alternatively, a loop can be used to remove all children of the document.

while(document.firstChild) document.firstChild.remove();

document.open() or document.write() work as well.

Microcrystalline answered 15/5, 2021 at 22:56 Comment(0)
C
1

After the page has already fully loaded:

document.write('');
document.close();
Chafer answered 22/11, 2010 at 1:28 Comment(1)
You could just use document.open().Calvincalvina
S
0

I believe this will do it

document.clear()  //deprecated

window.location = "about:blank"  //this clears out everything
Surratt answered 22/11, 2010 at 1:2 Comment(4)
That didn't work for me, but I did try it on jsbin.com which may be doing something else behind the scenes.Calvincalvina
@Calvincalvina ..yeah I just realized document.clear() has been deprecated.Surratt
@John Hartsock changing window.location to 'about:blank' has a problem with IE specialy IE10 because some addons when detect about:blank page fill it with their contentsReactivate
Five years later, it is not so important that lots of things still don't work in IE, since MS has stopped development of IE in favor of Edge.Sustain
K
0
document.documentElement.innerHTML='';
document.open();

The Document.open() method opens a document for writing. if you dont use open method, you cant modify Document after set innerhtml to empty string

Kavanaugh answered 12/1, 2018 at 20:25 Comment(0)
S
0

I believe this will still leave the doctype node hanging around, but:

document.documentElement.remove()

or the equivalent

document.getElementsByTagName("html")[0].remove()

Sorghum answered 12/1, 2018 at 20:52 Comment(0)
M
0

Live demo

If youre using jQuery here's your solution

<div id="mydiv">some text</div>
<br><br>
<button id="bn" style="cursor:pointer">Empty div</button>

<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).on('click', '#bn', function() {
  $("#mydiv").empty();
  $("#bn").empty().append("Done!");
});
</script>

If youre using javascript here's your solution

<div id="purejar">some text</div>
<br><br>
<button id="bnjar" onclick="run()" style="cursor:pointer">Empty div</button>

<script type="text/javascript">
var run = function() {
  var purejar = document.getElementById("purejar");
  var bn = document.getElementById("bnjar");
  purejar.innerHTML = '';
  bn.innerHTML = 'Done!';
}
</script>
Materialism answered 16/5, 2021 at 14:21 Comment(0)
A
-1

Im just curious as to why you'd want to do that. Now theres no way that I know of to replace absolutely everything down to the doctype declaration but if you are wanting to go to those lengths why not redirect the user to a specially crafted page that has the template you need with the doctype you need and then fill out the content there?

EDIT: in response to comment, what you could do is strip all content then create an iframe make it fill the entire page, and then you have total control of the content. Be aware that this is a big hack and will probably be very painful - but it would work :)

Ablaze answered 22/11, 2010 at 1:6 Comment(4)
To all who asked the reasons... This seemed like an easy way of stripping everything out and starting from scratch in a userscript... I can include whatever JS code I want, and it will run in the page, not in a sandbox. The doctype thing is for when I want to use xhtml on a html website.Oberg
In fact, Steve's solution is great... just have to tweak some stuff to include the doctype...Oberg
It's for userscripts. Ofc I don't need IE support. =)Oberg
@passcod - Changing the doctype is pointless. You wont end up with an XML document - only an HTTP content-type can do that. And if your building your DOM in javascript, you're not going to validate it either.Faintheart
M
-3

REMOVE EVERYTHING BUT --- !DOCTYPE html ---

var l = document.childNodes.length;    
while (l > 1) { var i = document.childNodes[1]; document.removeChild(i); l--; }

TESTED ON FIREFOX WEB INSPECTOR - childNodes[1] IS --- !DOCTYPE html ---

Mccarthy answered 4/8, 2016 at 4:3 Comment(0)

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