Get height of div with no height set in css

jQuery .height will return you the height of the element. It doesn't need CSS definition as it determines the computed height.

DEMO

You can use .height(), .innerHeight() or outerHeight() based on what you need.

.height() - returns the height of element excludes padding, border and margin.

.innerHeight() - returns the height of element includes padding but excludes border and margin.

.outerHeight() - returns the height of the div including border but excludes margin.

.outerHeight(true) - returns the height of the div including margin.

Check below code snippet for live demo. :)

$(function() {
  var $heightTest = $('#heightTest');
  $heightTest.html('Div style set as "height: 180px; padding: 10px; margin: 10px; border: 2px solid blue;"')
    .append('<p>Height (.height() returns) : ' + $heightTest.height() + ' [Just Height]</p>')
    .append('<p>Inner Height (.innerHeight() returns): ' + $heightTest.innerHeight() + ' [Height + Padding (without border)]</p>')
    .append('<p>Outer Height (.outerHeight() returns): ' + $heightTest.outerHeight() + ' [Height + Padding + Border]</p>')
    .append('<p>Outer Height (.outerHeight(true) returns): ' + $heightTest.outerHeight(true) + ' [Height + Padding + Border + Margin]</p>')
});

div { font-size: 0.9em; }

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.11.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div id="heightTest" style="height: 150px; padding: 10px; margin: 10px; border: 2px solid blue; overflow: hidden; ">
</div>

Can do this in jQuery. Try all options .height(), .innerHeight() or .outerHeight().

$('document').ready(function() {
    $('#right_div').css({'height': $('#left_div').innerHeight()});
});

Example Screenshot

Hope this helps. Thanks!!

Just a note in case others have the same problem.

I had the same problem and found a different answer. I found that getting the height of a div that's height is determined by its contents needs to be initiated on window.load, or window.scroll not document.ready otherwise i get odd heights/smaller heights, i.e before the images have loaded. I also used outerHeight().

var currentHeight = 0;
$(window).load(function() {
    //get the natural page height -set it in variable above.

    currentHeight = $('#js_content_container').outerHeight();

    console.log("set current height on load = " + currentHeight)
    console.log("content height function (should be 374)  = " + contentHeight());   

});