jquery - JavaScript moving element in the DOM

Question

Let's say I have three <div> elements on a page. How can I swap positions of the first and third <div>? jQuery is fine.

Answer 1

There's no need to use a library for such a trivial task:

var divs = document.getElementsByTagName("div");   // order: first, second, third
divs[2].parentNode.insertBefore(divs[2], divs[0]); // order: third, first, second
divs[2].parentNode.insertBefore(divs[2], divs[1]); // order: third, second, first

This takes account of the fact that getElementsByTagName returns a live NodeList that is automatically updated to reflect the order of the elements in the DOM as they are manipulated.

You could also use:

var divs = document.getElementsByTagName("div");   // order: first, second, third
divs[0].parentNode.appendChild(divs[0]);           // order: second, third, first
divs[1].parentNode.insertBefore(divs[0], divs[1]); // order: third, second, first

and there are various other possible permutations, if you feel like experimenting:

divs[0].parentNode.appendChild(divs[0].parentNode.replaceChild(divs[2], divs[0]));

for example :-)