Javascript get text inside a <span> element

Question

I need to get the text that is inside a element.

I can only grab the class of this element and NOT the ID.

<span class="fileName">test.png</span>

So I need a way to get test.png, but as you see I have only the class of the element and not the ID.

Just notice also that we may have more <span class="fileName"></span>, so it could look like this

<span class="fileName">test1.png</span>
<span class="fileName">test2.png</span>
<span class="fileName">test3.png</span>
<span class="fileName">test4.png</span>

In the case we have more, like the example above, I need to get ALL the values and not only one, because I need to pass this value to another page with jQuery. So it should be able to get one value or more from that element.

Please help!

And also I am not a javascript expert!

Solution 1

var filenames = $('.fileName').map(function(){
    return $(this).text();
}).get();

The array filenames will contain all the names of the images. You can pass on this array to another jQuery function, or anywhere else you like to do so.

You can test it here »

Update

Since you request the filenames to be a string separated by a comma, you can do it like this:

var filenames = $('.fileName').map(function(){
    return $(this).text();
}).get().join(',');

Now, filenames will contain the string test1.png,test2.png,test3.png,test4.png.

Solution 2

Use document.getElementsByClassName: http://jsfiddle.net/pCswS/.

var elems = document.getElementsByClassName("fileName");
var arr = [];
for(var i = 0; i < elems.length; i++) {
    arr.push(elems[i].innerHTML);
}
alert(arr);

(Since you didn't tag the question with jQuery I assume you have to do it with plain JavaScript.)

Solution 3

$('span.fileName').each(function() {
    var fileName = $(this).text();
    doSomethingWithFileName(fileName);
});

Here the span.fileName selector returns all spans with class fileName then we iterate through, reading the text from each one. You may want to find a container element first and then only iterate inside that, e.g.

var $container = $('#myFileNames');
$container.find('span.fileName').each( ... );

Solution 4

Here's my take:

var spans = document.getElementsByClassName('fileName');
var values = [];
for(var i = 0; i < spans.length; i++) {
    values.push(spans[i].innerHTML);
}

// Example of processing: alert the values
alert(values);

View more solutions

Comments

[Rup]

@AndyL always the way - sorry. Actually I misread that he wants all the values in an array: Shef's answer is better.

[DiegoP.]

it just returns one value and not All

[DiegoP.]

It returns an array..How do I get the plain values and not the Array. Is there a way to get the values of this array?

[DiegoP.]

ok but how do I get the real names. Now I just get the word : Array

[DiegoP.]

Same as above, it returns the word: Array. But how do I get the real names?

[Shef]

filenames.toString(), will do just fine if you want the seperator to be a comma ,. Otherwise, you can use filenames.join('yourSeparatorHere'). Once you have the array, you can do anything you like with it. :)

[pimvdb]

@DiegoP: It does work for me - otherwise change it into alert(arr.join()), which converts it into a string (with commas between the elements).

[DiegoP.]

Can you include it in the code above? As I said I am not a javascript expert. It does not have any sense for me. I just want to get in the var filenames the name of each file separated by comma, nothing more =(