TypeError: Cannot read property 'innerHTML' of Null in JS

TypeError: Cannot read property 'innerHTML' of Null in JS #

The "Cannot read property 'innerHTML' of null" error occurs for 2 reasons:

Accessing the innerHTML property on a null value - a DOM element that doesn't exist.
Placing the JS script tag above the HTML, where the DOM elements are created.

cannot read property innerhtml of null

Here is an example of how the error occurs.

index.js

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const box = document.getElementById('does-not-exist');
console.log(box); // 👉️ null

// ⛔️ Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'innerHTML')
const text = box.innerHTML;

To solve the "Cannot read property 'innerHTML' of null" error, make sure you're using the correct id. The error often occurs when calling the getElementById method with an incorrect id.

index.html

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<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
  </head>
  <body>
    <!-- 👇️ `id` should match your JS code -->
    <div id="box">Box</div>

    <script src="index.js"></script>
  </body>
</html>

To solve the "Cannot read property 'innerHTML' of null" error, insert the JS script tag at the bottom of the body tag. The JS script should run after the DOM elements are created.

index.html

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<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
  </head>
  <body>
    <!-- ⛔️ BAD - script is run before div is created ⛔️ -->
    <script src="index.js"></script>

    <div id="box">Box</div>
  </body>
</html>

Notice that the index.js script is run before the div element is created. This means that you can't access the div inside of the index.js file.

index.js

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const box = document.getElementById('box');
console.log(box); // 👉️ null

// ⛔️ Cannot read properties of null (reading 'innerHTML')
const text = box.innerHTML;

You should place the JS script tag at the bottom of the body, after the DOM elements have been declared.

index.html

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<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
  </head>
  <body>
    <div id="box">Box</div>

    <!-- ✅ GOOD - div already exists ✅ -->
    <script src="index.js"></script>
  </body>
</html>

Now the index.js file has access to the div element.

index.js

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const box = document.getElementById('box');
console.log(box); // 👉️ div#box

// ✅ Works
const text = box.innerHTML;
console.log(text); // 👉️ "Box"

Conclusion #

The "Cannot read property 'innerHTML' of null" error occurs when accessing the innerHTML property on a null value.

To solve the error, make sure the JS script tag is loaded after the DOM elements are declared and you're using an existing identifier to get the element.

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TypeError: Cannot read property 'innerHTML' of Null in JS

TypeError: Cannot read property 'innerHTML' of Null in JS #

Conclusion #

Borislav Hadzhiev