# Help with: document.getElementByClassName is not a function ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Uncategorized\ **Created:** [August 19, 2019, 11:58pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/help-with-document-getelementbyclassname-is-not-a-function/640240 "2019-08-19T23:58:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1

**Author:** ![vmars316](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bcef8e/32.png) [@vmars316](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/vmars316)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 11:58pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/help-with-document-getelementbyclassname-is-not-a-function/640240/1 "2019-08-19T23:58:24Z")

Hello & Thanks , Pls , what can use instead of: ```auto copyFromVar = document.getElementByClassName("copyFrom"[0]).value; document.getElementByClassName("pastInto"[0]).innerHtml = "copyFromVar" ``` ```auto

Copy-Text-from-textarea-to-div.html

Field1:
Field2:

pastInto 1

pastInto 2

A function is triggered when the button is clicked. The function copies the text from Field1 into Field2.

``` Thanks ---

**Author:** ![kirupa](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/kirupa/32/11616_2.png) [@kirupa](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/kirupa)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2019, 3:44am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/help-with-document-getelementbyclassname-is-not-a-function/640240/2 "2019-08-20T03:44:17Z")

The `getElementByClassName` function takes a class value as its argument: ```

Hello!

``` To access this element, you would use `document.getElementByClassName("bar")`. I am not quite sure what you are trying to do here, but you can’t use the array syntax or anything non-class related inside the `getElementByClassName` function. Also, this function only returns one single element. If you want to access all elements by a class value and then target a particular element, you can use `getElementsByClassName` (note the plural form of elements) and then use the index position of the element you wish to access: ``` var secondElement = document.getElementsByClassName("foo")[1]; ``` If you want to use something more modern, you should look into `querySelector` and `querySelectorAll`. They are more flexible in the elements you can target beyond just class or id 😛 This will help: [Finding Elements in the DOM using querySelector](https://www.kirupa.com/html5/finding_elements_dom_using_querySelector.htm) 🙂 ---

**Author:** ![vmars316](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bcef8e/32.png) [@vmars316](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/vmars316)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2019, 10:22pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/help-with-document-getelementbyclassname-is-not-a-function/640240/3 "2019-08-20T22:22:50Z")

I am trying to copy from textarea 1 into div 1 . Here is the revised code: ```auto

Copy-Text-from-textarea-to-div.html

Field1:
Field2:

pastInto 1

pastInto 2

A function is triggered when the button is clicked. The function copies the text from Field1 into Field2.

``` Pls , show me my coding errors . Thanks ---

**Author:** ![kirupa](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/kirupa/32/11616_2.png) [@kirupa](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/kirupa)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 4:30am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/help-with-document-getelementbyclassname-is-not-a-function/640240/4 "2019-08-21T04:30:37Z")

When you run into something that doesn’t work, always check your Console to see if any errors are raised. In your case, copying into the div shows this: ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/2X/0/056b5cdb9eb97409469c09ff66aa0a7d41670ab1.png) You misspelled **pasteInto** in your HTML. After fixing that, your next error is this: ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/2X/3/3057a29b2b7639f884e4b6a411b5889005b01ae1.png) In your code, you never declared a variable called `pasteInto`. My guess is that you want that variable to store the results of a `getElementsByClassName`, but I’ll leave it to you to investigate further given these pointers 🙂 Cheers, Kirupa 😛 ---

**Author:** ![vmars316](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bcef8e/32.png) [@vmars316](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/vmars316)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 4:07pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/help-with-document-getelementbyclassname-is-not-a-function/640240/5 "2019-08-21T16:07:39Z")

Thanks: Ah finally , code is error free , but no innerHtml is changed . What am I doing wrong ? Thanks: ```auto

Copy-Text-from-textarea-to-div.html

Field1:
Field2:

pasteInto 1

pasteInto 2

A function is triggered when the button is clicked. The function copies the text from Field1 into Field2.

``` And for 30 days here: [https://www.w3schools.com/code/tryit.asp?filename=G78QU97EMY1O](https://www.w3schools.com/code/tryit.asp?filename=G78QU97EMY1O) ---

**Author:** ![kirupa](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/kirupa/32/11616_2.png) [@kirupa](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/kirupa)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 5:54am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/help-with-document-getelementbyclassname-is-not-a-function/640240/6 "2019-08-22T05:54:13Z")

You have an alert statement that seems to indicate a problem: ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/2X/0/07eae3095223265f368cb26b1e0fe2652b9f19a4.png) Did you investigate what may be causing this? Some hints: The way to get the value of an input element or textarea is not through `innerHTML`, but through `value`. Also, there is no valid property called `innerHtml`. It should be `innerHTML` 🙂 🐵 ---

**Author:** ![vmars316](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bcef8e/32.png) [@vmars316](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/vmars316)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 5:42pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/help-with-document-getelementbyclassname-is-not-a-function/640240/7 "2019-08-22T17:42:50Z")

Thank you so much ! Here is the corrected code: ```auto

Copy-Text-from-textarea-to-div.html

Field1:
Field2:

pasteInto 1

pasteInto 2

A function is triggered when the button is clicked. The function copies the text from Field1 into Field2.

``` ---

**Author:** ![kirupa](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/kirupa/32/11616_2.png) [@kirupa](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/kirupa)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 5:50pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/help-with-document-getelementbyclassname-is-not-a-function/640240/8 "2019-08-22T17:50:47Z")

Glad you got it working 🙂 ---

**Author:** ![kirupa](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/kirupa/32/11616_2.png) [@kirupa](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/kirupa)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2019, 8:29pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/help-with-document-getelementbyclassname-is-not-a-function/640240/10 "2019-08-27T20:29:47Z")

Is there a question here, @Alexander_Thomas? 😛