JavaScript getComputedStyle(): Get Computed Style of an Element

Summary: in this tutorial, you will learn how to use the JavaScript getComputedStyle() to get the computed CSS properties of an element.

Introduction to JavaScript `getComputedStyle()` method

The getComputedStyle() is a method of the window object, which returns an object that contains the computed style an element:

let style = window.getComputedStyle(element [,pseudoElement]);
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

Parameters

The getComputedStyle() method accepts two arguments:

element is the element that you want to return the computed styles. If you pass another node type e.g., Text node, the method will throw an error.
pseudoElement specifies the pseudo-element to match. It defaults to null.

For example, if you want to get the computed value of all the CSS properties of a link with the hover state, you pass the following arguments to the getComputedStyle() method:

let link = document.querySelector('a');
let style = getComputedStyle(link,':hover');
console.log(style);
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

Note that window is the global object, therefore, you can omit it when calling get the getComputedStyle() method.

Return value

The getComputedStyle() method returns a live style object which is an instance of the CSSStyleDeclaration object. The style is automatically updated when the styles of the element are changed.

JavaScript `getComputedStyle()` examples

Let’s take some examples of using the getComputedStyle() method.

1) Simple `getComputedStyle()` example

Consider the following example:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <title>JS getComputedStyle() Demo</title>
    <style type="text/css">
        .message {
            background-color: #fff3d4;
            border: solid 1px #f6b73c;
            padding: 20px;
            color: black;
        }
    </style>
</head>
<body>

    <p class="message" style="color:red">
        This is a JS getComputedStyle() Demo!
    </p>

    <script>
        let message = document.querySelector('.message');
        let style = getComputedStyle(message);

        console.log('color:', style.color);
        console.log('background color:', style.backgroundColor);
    </script>
</body>
</html>
Code language: HTML, XML (xml)

Note that for the demonstration purpose, we mix all CSS and JavaScript with HTML. In practice, you should separate them in different files.

Output:

color: rgb(255, 0, 0)
background color: rgb(255, 243, 212)

How it works:

First, define CSS rules for the message class in the head section of the HTML file. The text color is black.
Second, declare a paragraph element whose text color is red as defined in the inline style. This rule will override the one defined in the head section.
Third, use the getComputedStyle() method to get all the computed style of the paragraph element. The color property is red as indicated in the Console window ( rgb(255, 0, 0)) as expected.

2) The `getComputedStyle()` for pseudo-elements example

The following example uses the getComputedStyle() method to pull style information from a pseudo-element:

<html>
<head>
    <title>JavaScript getComputedStyle() Demo</title>
    <style>
        body {
            font: arial, sans-serif;
            font-size: 1em;
            line-height: 1.6;
        }

        p::first-letter {
            font-size: 1.5em;
            font-weight: normal
        }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
    <p id='main'>JavaScript getComputedStyle() Demo for pseudo-elements</p>
    <script>
        let p = document.getElementById('main');
        let style = getComputedStyle(p, '::first-letter');
        console.log(style.fontSize);
    </script>
</body>
</html>Code language: HTML, XML (xml)

Output:

24px

How it works:

First, define CSS rules for the first letter of any paragraph element in the head section of the HTML file.
Then, use the getComputedStyle() method to pull the computed style of the pseudo-element. The font-size of the first letter of the paragraph with the id is 24px.

Summary

The getComputedStyle() is a method of the window object.
The getComputedStyle() method returns an object that contains the computed style of an element.

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Introduction to JavaScript getComputedStyle() method