Testing the type of a DOM element in JavaScript

roenving is correct BUT you need to change the test to:

if(element.nodeType == 1) {
//code
}

because nodeType of 3 is actually a text node and nodeType of 1 is an HTML element. See http://www.w3schools.com/Dom/dom_nodetype.asp

You can use typeof(N) to get the actual object type, but what you want to do is check the tag, not the type of the DOM element.

In that case, use the elem.tagName or elem.nodeName property.

if you want to get really creative, you can use a dictionary of tagnames and anonymous closures instead if a switch or if/else.

if (element.nodeName == "A") {
 ...
} else if (element.nodeName == "TD") {
 ...
}

Perhaps you'll have to check the nodetype too:

if(element.nodeType == 1){//element of type html-object/tag
  if(element.tagName=="a"){
    //this is an a-element
  }
  if(element.tagName=="div"){
    //this is a div-element
  }
}

Edit: Corrected the nodeType-value