Select options collection

HTML DOM Select Object

Definition and usage

options The collection returns all options in the dropdown list Option element collection.

Note:The elements in the collection are sorted in the order they appear in the source code.

Instances

Example 1

View how many options are in a specific dropdown list:

var x = document.getElementById("mySelect").options.length;

Try It Yourself

The result of x will be:

4

Tip:More examples are provided below the page.

Syntax

selectObject.options

Property

Property Description
length

Return the number of <option> elements in the collection.

Note:This property is read-only
selectedIndex Set or return the index (starting from 0) of the selected <option> element in the collection.

Method

Method Description
[index]

Return the <option> element with the specified index (starting from 0) from the collection.

Note:Returns null if the index number is out of range.
[add(option[,index]]] Add the <option> element to the specified index in the collection. If no index is specified, it will be inserted at the end of the collection.
item(index)

Return the <option> element with the specified index (starting from 0) from the collection.

Note:Returns null if the index number is out of range.
namedItem(id)

Return the <option> element with the specified ID from the collection.

Note:If id Returns null if not found.
remove(index) Remove the <option> element with the specified index from the collection.

Technical Details

DOM Version: Core Level 2 Document Object
Return value:

HTMLOptionsCollection object, representing all <option> elements within the <select> element.

The elements in the collection are sorted in the order they appear in the source code.

More Examples

Example 2: [index]

Get the text of the first option (index 0) in the dropdown list:

var x = document.getElementById("mySelect").options[0].text;

Try It Yourself

The result of x will be:

Apple

Example 3: item(index)

Get the text of the first option (index 0) in the dropdown list:

var x = document.getElementById("mySelect").options.item(0).text;

Try It Yourself

The result of x will be:

Apple

Example 4: namedItem(id)

Get the text of the option with id="orange" in the dropdown list:

var x = document.getElementById("mySelect").options.namedItem("orange").text;

Try It Yourself

The result of x will be:

Orange

Example 5

Add the 'Kiwi' option at the index position '1' in the dropdown list:

var x = document.getElementById("mySelect");
var c = document.createElement("option");
c.text = "Kiwi";
x.options.add(c, 1);

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Example 6

Remove the option at index "1" from the dropdown list:

var x = document.getElementById("mySelect"); x.options.remove(1);

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Example 7

Loop through all options in the dropdown list and output the text of each option:

var x = document.getElementById("mySelect");
var txt = "";
var i;
for (i = 0; i < x.length; i++) {
  txt = txt + x.options[i].text + "<br>";
}

Try It Yourself

The result of x will be:

Apple
Orange
Pineapple
Banana

Example 8

Select an option from the dropdown list and output the text of the selected option in the element with id="demo":

var x = document.getElementById("mySelect");
var i = x.selectedIndex;
document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = x.options[i].text;

Try It Yourself

The result of x will be:

Banana

Example 9

Modify the options in the dropdown list based on the selected option in another dropdown list:

var carsAndModels = {};
carsAndModels['VO'] = ['V70', 'XC60', 'XC90'];
carsAndModels['VW'] = ['Golf', 'Polo', 'Scirocco', 'Touareg'];
carsAndModels['BMW'] = ['M6', 'X5', 'Z3'];
function ChangeCarList() {
  var carList = document.getElementById("car");
  var modelList = document.getElementById("carmodel");
  var selCar = carList.options[carList.selectedIndex].value;
  while (modelList.options.length) {
    modelList.remove(0);
  }
  var cars = carsAndModels[selCar];
  if (cars) {
    var i;
    for (i = 0; i < cars.length; i++) {
      var car = new Option(cars[i], i);
      modelList.options.add(car);
    }
  }
}

Try It Yourself

Browser Support Collection options Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

HTML DOM Select Object