Deprecated since HTML5
This feature has been removed from the Web standards. Though some browsers may still support it, it is in the process of being dropped. Do not use it in old or new projects. Pages or Web apps using it may break at any time.
anchors returns a list of all of the anchors in the document.
Syntax
nodeList = document.anchors;
Example
if ( document.anchors.length >= 5 ) {
dump("dump found too many anchors");
window.location = "http://www.google.com";
}
The following is an example that auto populates a Table of Contents div with every anchor on the page:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8" />
<title>Test</title>
<script>
function init() {
var toc = document.getElementById("toc");
var i, li, newAnchor;
for (i = 0; i < document.anchors.length; i++) {
li = document.createElement("li");
newAnchor = document.createElement('a');
newAnchor.href = "#" + document.anchors[i].name;
newAnchor.innerHTML = document.anchors[i].text;
li.appendChild(newAnchor);
toc.appendChild(li);
}
}
</script>
</head>
<body onload="init()">
<h1>Title</h1>
<h2><a name="contents">Contents</a></h2>
<ul id="toc"></ul>
<h2><a name="plants">Plants</a></h2>
<ol>
<li>Apples</li>
<li>Oranges</li>
<li>Pears</li>
</ol>
<h2><a name="veggies">Veggies</a></h2>
<ol>
<li>Carrots</li>
<li>Celery</li>
<li>Beats</li>
</ol>
</body>
</html>
Notes
For reasons of backwards compatibility, the returned set of anchors only contains those anchors created with the name attribute, not those created with the id attribute.
Specifications
| Specification | Status | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| WHATWG HTML Living Standard The definition of 'Document.anchors' in that specification. |
Living Standard | Obsoleted. |
| Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 HTML Specification The definition of 'Document.anchors' in that specification. |
Recommendation | Initial definition. |