closest

closest is a polyfill for #Element.closest.

1npm install element-closest

The #Element.closest method returns the closest element that matches a selector. It returns the element itself, one of its ancestor, or null if there isn't any match.

1element.closest(selectorString) //=> Element or null

This is especially useful for delegating events.

1document.addEventListener('click', function (event) {
2  // find nearest element up the tree that is an <a>
3  var link = event.target.closest('a');
4
5  if (link) {
6    // do something with the <a>
7    event.preventDefault();
8  }
9});

The script is approximately 428 bytes, or 257 bytes when gzipped.

Usage

For immediate usage, add this script to your document:

1<script src="https://unpkg.com/element-closest"></script>

For usage in Node, including Browserify and Webpack, run closest with your window object:

1const elementClosest = require('element-closest');
2
3elementClosest(window); // this is used to reference window.Element

Browser compatibility

Browser	Native Support	Polyfill Support
Android	53	2.2+
Blackberry	✘	7+
Chrome	41+	4 - 40
Edge	15	12 - 14
Firefox	35+	3.5 - 34
Internet Explorer	✘	8+
Opera	28+	10 - 27
Opera Mobile	37+	12+
Safari (iOS)	9.2+	3.2 - 8.4
Safari (MacOS)	9.1+	3.1 - 8

Internet Explorer 8

closest is especially useful for delegating events, but remember that Internet Explorer 8 does not support #Element.addEventListener.

matches

This library also polyfills #Element.matches, which is widely supported but often vendor-prefixed.

1element.matches(selectorString) //=> boolean

matches is especially useful for short-handing hasAttribute or classList.contains with selectors.

1const widget = document.querySelector('.custom-widget');
2
3if (widget.matches('[data-active]') || widget.matches('.widget--active')) {
4  // do something with the active widget
5}