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

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 a <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>

table {
  border-collapse: collapse;
}

th,
td {
  border: 1px solid black;
}

button {
  margin: 1em 1em 1em 0;
}

JavaScript

// 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 Standard # dom-tbody-insertrow

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser