HTMLElement: error event

The error event is fired on an element when a resource failed to load, or can’t be used. For example, if a script has an execution error or an image can’t be found or is invalid.

This event is not cancelable and does not bubble.

Syntax

Use the event name in methods like addEventListener(), or set an event handler property.

addEventListener("error", (event) => { })

onerror = (event) => { }

Event type

The event object is a UIEvent instance if it was generated from a user interface element, or an Event instance otherwise.

Examples

Live example

HTML

<div class="controls">
  <button id="img-error" type="button">Generate image error</button>
  <img src="/firefox/mdn-asset-missing.svg" class="bad-img" alt="I don't exist" />
</div>

<div class="event-log">
  <label for="eventLog">Event log:</label>
  <textarea
    readonly
    class="event-log-contents"
    rows="8"
    cols="30"
    id="eventLog"></textarea>
</div>

body {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-areas: "control log";
}

.controls {
  grid-area: control;
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
  justify-content: center;
}

.event-log {
  grid-area: log;
}

.event-log-contents {
  resize: none;
}

label,
button {
  display: block;
}

button {
  height: 2rem;
  margin: 0.5rem;
}

img {
  width: 0;
  height: 0;
}

JavaScript

const log = document.querySelector(".event-log-contents");

const badImg = document.querySelector(".bad-img");
badImg.addEventListener("error", (event) => {
  log.textContent += `${event.type}: Loading image\n`;
  console.log(event);
});

const imgError = document.querySelector("#img-error");
imgError.addEventListener("click", () => {
  badImg.setAttribute("src", "i-dont-exist");
});

Result

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• Related events
  • Window: error event
  • HTMLElement: load event