Code Examples

1️⃣ Access Parent

let child = document.querySelector(".child");
console.log(child.parentNode);

2️⃣ Access Children

let parent = document.querySelector(".parent");
console.log(parent.children);

3️⃣ Access Siblings

let item = document.querySelector(".item");
console.log(item.nextElementSibling);

Technical Example (Combined Traversal)

let box = document.querySelector(".box");

// Move up
let parent = box.parentNode;

// Move down
let children = parent.children;

// Move sideways
let next = box.nextElementSibling;

console.log(parent, children, next);

This shows full navigation:

Up → parent
Down → children
Sideways → sibling
1. Remove Item from Cart

Click “Remove” → delete that specific product

btn.addEventListener("click", (e) => {
e.target.parentNode.remove();
});

2. Highlight Selected Menu Item

Highlight clicked item & remove from others
let items = document.querySelectorAll(".menu li");

items.forEach(item => {
item.addEventListener("click", () => {
items.forEach(i => i.classList.remove("active"));
item.classList.add("active");
});
});

3. Expanding/Collapsing Sections

Click → show/hide related content

btn.addEventListener("click", (e) => {
e.target.nextElementSibling.classList.toggle("show");
});

Interview Insights

parentNode vs parentElement

Mostly same
parentElement ignores non-element nodes

children vs childNodes

children → only elements
childNodes → includes text, comments

nextSibling vs nextElementSibling

nextSibling → includes text
nextElementSibling → only elements

One-Line Interview Answer

“DOM traversal allows us to navigate between elements like parent, children, and siblings to dynamically interact with related parts of the UI.”

Module 5: DOM Traversal

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