Checking Value of Radio Button Group via JavaScript?

Question

This may seem silly and downright stupid but I can't seem to figure out how to check the value of a radio button group in my HTML form via JavaScript. I have the following code:

<input type="radio" id="genderm" name="gender" value="male" />
<label for="genderm">Male</label>
<input type="radio" id="genderf" name="gender" value="female" />
<label for="genderf">Female</label>

How do I retrieve the value of gender via JavaScript?

Solution 1

If you are using a javascript library like jQuery, it's very easy:

alert($('input[name=gender]:checked').val());

This code will select the checked input with gender name, and gets it's value. Simple isn't it?

Live demo

Solution 2

Use document.querySelector() if you want to avoid frameworks (which I almost always want to do).

document.querySelector('input[name="gender"]:checked').value

Solution 3

In pure Javascript:

var genders = document.getElementsByName("gender");
var selectedGender;

for(var i = 0; i < genders.length; i++) {
   if(genders[i].checked)
       selectedGender = genders[i].value;
 }

update

In pure Javascript without loop, using newer (and potentially not-yet-supported) RadioNodeList :

var form_elements = document.getElementById('my_form').elements;
var selectedGender = form_elements['gender'].value;

The only catch is that RadioNodeList is only returned by the HTMLFormElement.elements or HTMLFieldSetElement.elements property, so you have to have some identifier for the form or fieldset that the radio inputs are wrapped in to grab it first.

Solution 4

To get the value you would do this:

document.getElementById("genderf").value;

But to check, whether the radio button is checked or selected:

document.getElementById("genderf").checked;

Solution 5

If you wrap your form elements in a form tag with a name attribute you can easily get the value using document.formName.radioGroupName.value.

<form name="myForm">
    <input type="radio" id="genderm" name="gender" value="male" />
    <label for="genderm">Male</label>
    <input type="radio" id="genderf" name="gender" value="female" />
    <label for="genderf">Female</label>
</form>

<script>
    var selected = document.forms.myForm.gender.value;
</script>

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