link element | link object

Enables the current document to establish links to external documents.

Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 HTML Specification, Section 1.6.5

HTML information

Closing Tag	forbidden
CSS Display

DOM Information

Inheritance Hierarchy

Node

Element

HTMLElement

link

Members

The link object has these types of members:

Events
Methods
Properties

Events

The link object has these events.

Event	Description
abort	Fires when the user aborts the download.
afterupdate	Fires on a databound object after successfully updating the associated data in the data source object.
beforecopy	Fires on the source object before the selection is copied to the system clipboard.
beforeupdate	Fires on a databound object before updating the associated data in the data source object.
cellchange	Fires when data changes in the data provider.
change	Fires when the contents of the object or selection have changed.
dataavailable	Fires periodically as data arrives from data source objects that asynchronously transmit their data.
datasetchanged	Fires when the data set exposed by a data source object changes.
error	Fires when an error occurs during object loading.
errorupdate	Fires on a databound object when an error occurs while updating the associated data in the data source object.
filterchange	Fires when a visual filter changes state or completes a transition.
input	Occurs when the text content of an element is changed through the user interface.
layoutcomplete	Fires when the print or print preview layout process finishes filling the current LayoutRect object with content from the source document.
load	Fires immediately after the client loads the object.
ondatasetcomplete	Fires to indicate that all data is available from the data source object.
onselect	Fires when the current selection changes.
readystatechange	Fires when the state of the object has changed.
reset	Fires when the user resets a form.
resize	Fires when the size of the object is about to change.
rowenter	Fires to indicate that the current row has changed in the data source and new data values are available on the object.
rowexit	Fires just before the data source control changes the current row in the object.
rowsdelete	Fires when rows are about to be deleted from the recordset.
rowsinserted	Fires just after new rows are inserted in the current recordset.

Methods

The link object has these methods.

Method	Description
addBehavior	Attaches a behavior to the element.
applyElement	Makes the element either a child or parent of another element.
attachEvent	Note attachEvent is no longer supported. Starting with IE11, use addEventListener. For info, see Compatibility changes. Binds the specified function to an event, so that the function gets called whenever the event fires on the object.
clearAttributes	Removes all attributes and values from the object.
cloneNode	Copies a reference to the object from the document hierarchy.
componentFromPoint	Returns the component located at the specified coordinates via certain events.
detachEvent	Unbinds the specified function from the event, so that the function stops receiving notifications when the event fires.
doScroll	Note doScroll is no longer supported. Starting with IE11, use scrollLeft or scrollTop. For info, see Compatibility changes. Simulates a click on a scroll bar component.
fireEvent	Fires a specified event on the object.
getAdjacentText	Returns the adjacent text string.
getAttribute	Retrieves the value of the specified attribute.
getAttributeNode	Retrieves an attribute object referenced by the attribute.name property.
getAttributeNodeNS	Gets an attribute object that matches the specified namespace and name.
getAttributeNS	Gets the value of the specified attribute within the specified namespace.
getBoundingClientRect	Retrieves an object that specifies the bounds of a collection of TextRectangle objects.
getClientRects	Retrieves a collection of rectangles that describes the layout of the contents of an object or range within the client. Each rectangle describes a single line.
getElementsByClassName	Gets a collection of objects that are based on the value of the class attribute.
getElementsByTagName	Retrieves a collection of objects based on the specified element name.
getElementsByTagNameNS	Gets a collection of objects that are based on the specified element names within a specified namespace.
hasAttribute	Determines whether an attribute with the specified name exists.
hasAttributeNS	Determines whether an attribute that has the specified namespace and name exists.
hasAttributes	Determines whether one or more attributes exist for the object.
hasChildNodes	Returns a value that indicates whether the object has children.
insertAdjacentElement	Inserts an element at the specified location.
mergeAttributes	Copies all read/write attributes to the specified element.
msMatchesSelector	Determines whether an object matches the specified selector.
normalize	Merges adjacent DOM objects to produce a normalized document object model.
removeAttribute	Removes an attribute from an object.
removeAttributeNode	Removes an attribute object from the object.
removeAttributeNS	Removes the specified attribute from the object.
removeBehavior	Detaches a behavior from the element.
removeNode	Removes the object from the document hierarchy.
replaceAdjacentText	Replaces the text adjacent to the element.
replaceNode	Replaces the object with another element.
setActive	Sets the object as active without setting focus to the object.
setAttribute	Sets the value of the specified attribute.
setAttributeNode	Sets an attribute object node as part of the object.
setAttributeNodeNS	Sets an attribute object as part of the object.
setAttributeNS	Sets the value of the specified attribute within the specified namespace.
setCapture	Sets the mouse capture to the object that belongs to the current document.
swapNode	Exchanges the location of two objects in the document hierarchy.

Properties

The link object has these properties.

Property	Description
attributes	Retrieves a collection of attributes of the object.
canHaveChildren	Gets a value indicating whether the object can contain child objects.
canHaveHTML	Retrieves the value indicating whether the object can contain rich HTML markup.
childElementCount	Retrieves the number of immediate child nodes of the current element or a zero if the element does not contain any child nodes. childElementCount does not return all child nodes, only child nodes that are nodeType =1, or element nodes.
disabled	Sets or retrieves a value that indicates whether the user can interact with the object.
firstChild	Gets a reference to the first child in the childNodes collection of the object.
firstElementChild	Retrieves a reference to the first child element, or NULL if there are no child elements.
href	Sets or retrieves a destination URL or an anchor point.
hreflang	Sets or retrieves the language code of the object.
id	Sets or retrieves the string identifying the object.
isContentEditable	Gets the value that indicates whether the user can edit the contents of the object.
isDisabled	Gets the value that indicates whether the user can interact with the object.
isMultiLine	Retrieves the value indicating whether the content of the object contains one or more lines.
lastChild	Gets a reference to the last child in the childNodes collection of an object.
lastElementChild	Retrieves a reference to the last child element or NULL if there are no child elements.
lazyload	Lowers the loading priority of a resource.
media	Sets or retrieves the media type.
name	Sets or retrieves the name of the object.
nextElementSibling	Retrieves a reference to the sibling element that immediately follows or NULL if the element does not have any sibling elements that follow it.
nextSibling	Retrieves a reference to the next child of the parent for the object.
nodeName	Gets the name of a particular type of node.
nodeType	Retrieves the type of the requested node.
nodeValue	Gets or sets the value of a node.
ownerDocument	Retrieves the document object associated with the node.
parentNode	Retrieves the parent object in the document hierarchy.
previousElementSibling	Retrieves a reference to the immediately preceding sibling element or NULL if the element does not have any preceding siblings.
previousSibling	Gets a reference to the previous child of the parent for the object.
readyState	Retrieves a value that indicates the current state of the object.
rel	Sets or retrieves the relationship between the object and the destination of the link.
rev	Sets or retrieves the relationship between the object and the destination of the link.
role	Sets or retrieves the role for this element.
scopeName	Gets the namespace defined for the element. This property is not supported for Windows apps using JavaScript.
sheet	Gets the CSS style sheet that is associated with the object.
styleSheet	Note For the style element, styleSheet is no longer supported. Starting with IE11, use sheet. For info, see Compatibility changes. Retrieves an interface pointer that provides access to the style sheet object's properties and methods.
tagUrn	Sets or gets the URN specified in the namespace declaration. This property is not supported for Windows apps using JavaScript.
type	Sets or retrieves the MIME type of the object.
uniqueID	Retrieves an autogenerated, unique identifier for the object.
x-ms-format-detection	Determines whether data formats within content are automatically detected and (if found) converted to clickable links.

Standards information

Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 HTML Specification, Section 1.6.5
HTML 4.01 Specification, Section 12.3

Remarks

The link element can be used only within the head tag.

Windows Internet Explorer 8 and later. The behavior of the href and the rel attributes depends on the current document compatibility mode.

Examples

This example uses the link element to apply an external style sheet, called styles.css, to the page.

JavaScript


<link rel=stylesheet href="styles.css" type="text/css">