HTMLSelectElement: item() method

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.

The HTMLSelectElement.item() method returns the Element corresponding to the HTMLOptionElement whose position in the options list corresponds to the index given in the parameter, or null if there are none.

In JavaScript, using the array bracket syntax with an unsigned long, like selectElt[index] is equivalent to selectElt.item(index).

Syntax

js
item(index)
// or collection[index]

Parameters

index

A non-negative integer representing the position of the option in the list.

Return value

An HTMLOptionElement or null.

Examples

HTML

html
<form>
  <select id="myFormControl">
    <option id="o1">Opt 1</option>
    <option id="o2">Opt 2</option>
  </select>
</form>

JavaScript

js
// Returns the HTMLOptionElement representing #o2
elem1 = document.forms[0]["myFormControl"][1];

Specifications

Specification

HTML
# dom-select-item-dev

Browser compatibility

Enable JavaScript to view this browser compatibility table.

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This page was last modified on Apr 22, 2026 by MDN contributors.

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