HTMLTableSectionElement: insertRow() method

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since ⁨July 2015⁩.

The insertRow() method of the HTMLTableSectionElement interface inserts a new row (<tr>) in the given table sectioning element (<thead>, <tfoot>, or <tbody>), then returns a reference to this new row.

Note: insertRow() inserts the row directly into the section. The row does not need to be appended separately as would be the case if Document.createElement() had been used to create the new <tr> element.

Syntax

js
insertRow() insertRow(index) 

Parameters

index Optional

The row index of the new row. If index is -1 or equal to the number of rows, the row is appended as the last row. If index is omitted it defaults to -1.

Return value

An HTMLTableRowElement that references the new row.

Exceptions

IndexSizeError DOMException

Thrown if index is greater than the number of rows, or smaller than -1.

Examples

In this example, two buttons allow you to add and remove rows from the table body section; it also updates an <output> element with the number of rows currently in the table.

HTML

html
<table> <thead> <th>Col 1</th> <th>Col 2</th> <th>Col 3</th> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>X</td> <td>Y</td> <td>Z</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <button id="add">Add a row</button> <button id="remove">Remove last row</button> <div>This table's body has <output>1</output> row(s).</div> 

JavaScript

js
// Obtain relevant interface elements const bodySection = document.querySelectorAll("tbody")[0]; const rows = bodySection.rows; // The collection is live, therefore always up-to-date const rowNumberDisplay = document.querySelectorAll("output")[0]; const addButton = document.getElementById("add"); const removeButton = document.getElementById("remove"); function updateRowNumber() { rowNumberDisplay.textContent = rows.length; } addButton.addEventListener("click", () => { // Add a new row at the end of the body const newRow = bodySection.insertRow(); // Add cells inside the new row ["A", "B", "C"].forEach( (elt) => (newRow.insertCell().textContent = `${elt}${rows.length}`), ); // Update the row counter updateRowNumber(); }); removeButton.addEventListener("click", () => { // Delete the row from the body bodySection.deleteRow(-1); // Update the row counter updateRowNumber(); }); 

Result

Specifications

Specification
HTML
# dom-tbody-insertrow

Browser compatibility

See also