Fastest way to convert JavaScript NodeList to Array

Namachila October 31, 2025

0 3 1 minute read

A NodeList is a collection of nodes similar to an array. It is basically a collection of DOM elements. In order to work with a NodeList, we may convert it to a regular JavaScript array so that the features and flexibility of an array could be used. A NodeList is a host object and is not subject to the usual rules that apply to native JavaScript objects.

Approach: There are many ways to convert a NodeList to a JavaScript array but the fastest of all is a new method from ES6. In ES6, we can now simply create an Array from a NodeList using the Array.from() method. This method is used to create a shallow-copied new Array instance from an array-like or iterable object. The NodeList we are converting from in this case is the array-like object.

Syntax:

let my_arr = Array.from( given_nodelist )

Example: This example shows the use of the above-explained approach.

HTML

<body> 
    <h1 style="color: green"> 
        zambiatek 
    </h1> 
    <div class="content primary"> 
      
        <p> 
            A Computer Science portal for zambiatek. 
            It contains well written, well thought 
            and well explained computer science and 
            programming articles, quizzes and 
            placement guides. 
        </p> 
      
    </div> 
    <div class="content secondary"> 
      
        <p>This example demonstrates the fastest 
            way to convert from a NodeList to an array. 
        </p> 
      
    </div> 
    <script> 
        // This will act select all div DOM  
        elements in the page 
        let nodelist = 
            document.querySelectorAll('div'); 
          
        // This will convert the DOM NodeList 
        // to a JavaScript Array Object 
        let my_arr = Array.from(nodelist); 
          
        // Display the array in the console 
        console.log(my_arr); 
          
        // Display all the values of the  
        // array in the console 
        for (let val of my_arr) { 
            console.log(val); 
        } 
    </script> 
</body>

Output:

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