cloneNode Method

Copies a reference to the object from the document hierarchy.

What's New for Microsoft® Internet Explorer 6

This method applies to the attribute object as of Internet Explorer 6.

Syntax

oClone = object.cloneNode( [bCloneChildren])

Parameters

bCloneChildren Optional. BooleanÂ that specifies one of the following values:
false Default. Cloned objects do not include childNodes.
true Cloned objects include childNodes.

Return Value

ReturnsÂ a reference to the newly created node.

Remarks

The cloneNode method copies an object, attributes, and, if specified, the childNodes.
A collection is returned when referring to the ID of a cloned element.
The cloneNode method will not work on an IFRAME directly. You must call it through the all collection. The following example demonstrates how to call cloneNode on an IFRAME.
<HTML>
<SCRIPT>
function fnBegin(){
    var fr = document.all.oFrame.cloneNode();
    alert(document.body.innerHTML);
}    
</SCRIPT>
<BODY onload="fnBegin()">
    <IFRAME id="oFrame" src="about:blank" 
        style="border:1px solid black; position:absolute; top:20px; left:30px;
            width:350px; height:300px;"></IFRAME>
</BODY>    
</HTML>

Example

<SCRIPT>
function fnClone(){
   /* the 'true' possible value specifies to clone
      the childNodes as well.
   */
   var oCloneNode = oList.cloneNode(true);
   /* When the cloned node is added,
   'oList' becomes a collection.
   */
   document.body.insertBefore(oCloneNode);
}
</SCRIPT>

<UL ID="oList">
<LI>List node 1
<LI>List node 2
<LI>List node 3
<LI>List node 4
</UL>

<INPUT type="button" value="Clone List" onclick="fnClone()">

Standards Information

method is defined in World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 .

Applies To

A, ACRONYM, ADDRESS, APPLET, AREA, attribute, B, BASE, BASEFONT, BDO, BGSOUND, BIG, BLOCKQUOTE, BODY, BR, BUTTON, CAPTION, CENTER, CITE, CODE, COL, COLGROUP, COMMENT, DD, DEL, DFN, DIR, DIV, DL, DT, EM, EMBED, FIELDSET, FONT, FORM, FRAME, FRAMESET, HEAD, hn, HR, HTML, I, IFRAME, IMG, INPUT type=button, INPUT type=checkbox, INPUT type=file, INPUT type=hidden, INPUT type=image, INPUT type=password, INPUT type=radio, INPUT type=reset, INPUT type=submit, INPUT type=text, INS, KBD, LABEL, LEGEND, LI, LINK, LISTING, MAP, MARQUEE, MENU, nextID, OBJECT, OL, OPTION, P, PLAINTEXT, PRE, Q, S, SAMP, SCRIPT, SELECT, SMALL, SPAN, STRIKE, STRONG, SUB, SUP, TABLE, TBODY, TD, TEXTAREA, TFOOT, TH, THEAD, TITLE, TR, TT, U, UL, VAR, XMP