How to uncheck a checkbox in pure JavaScript?

Recommended, without jQuery:

Give your <input> an ID and refer to that. Also, remove the checked="" part of the <input> tag if you want the checkbox to start out unticked. Then it's:

document.getElementById("my-checkbox").checked = true;

Pure JavaScript, with no Element ID (#1):

var inputs = document.getElementsByTagName('input');

for(var i = 0; i<inputs.length; i++){

  if(typeof inputs[i].getAttribute === 'function' && inputs[i].getAttribute('name') === 'copyNewAddrToBilling'){

    inputs[i].checked = true;

    break;

  }
}

Pure Javascript, with no Element ID (#2):

document.querySelectorAll('.text input[name="copyNewAddrToBilling"]')[0].checked = true;

document.querySelector('.text input[name="copyNewAddrToBilling"]').checked = true;

Note that the querySelectorAll and querySelector methods are supported in these browsers: IE8+, Chrome 4+, Safari 3.1+, Firefox 3.5+ and all mobile browsers.

If the element may be missing, you should test for its existence, e.g.:

var input = document.querySelector('.text input[name="copyNewAddrToBilling"]');
if (!input) { return; }

With jQuery:

$('.text input[name="copyNewAddrToBilling"]').prop('checked', true);


<html>
    <body>
        <input id="check1" type="checkbox" checked="" name="copyNewAddrToBilling">
    </body>
    <script language="javascript">
        document.getElementById("check1").checked = true;
        document.getElementById("check1").checked = false;
    </script>
</html>

I have added the language attribute to the script element, but it is unnecessary because all browsers use this as a default, but it leaves no doubt what this example is showing.

If you want to use javascript to access elements, it has a very limited set of GetElement* functions. So you are going to need to get into the habit of giving every element a UNIQUE id attribute.

Tags:

Javascript

Html

Checkbox

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