HTMLTableRowElement: insertCell() method

The insertCell() method of the HTMLTableRowElement interface inserts a new cell (<td>) into a table row (<tr>) and returns a reference to the cell.

[!NOTE] insertCell() inserts the cell directly into the row. The cell does not need to be appended separately with appendChild() as would be the case if createElement() had been used to create the new <td> element.

You can not use insertCell() to create a new <th> element though.

Syntax

insertCell()
insertCell(index)

Parameters

• index Optional
  • : The cell index of the new cell. If index is -1 or equal to the number of cells, the cell is appended as the last cell in the row. If index is omitted it defaults to -1.

Return value

An HTMLTableCellElement that references the new cell.

Exceptions

• IndexSizeError DOMException
  • : Thrown if index is greater than the number of cells.

Examples

This example uses HTMLTableRowElement.insertCell() to append a new cell to a row.

HTML

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>C1</th>
      <th>C2</th>
      <th>C3</th>
      <th>C4</th>
      <th>C5</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Cell 1</td>
      <td>Cell 2</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

<button id="add">Add a cell</button>
<button id="remove">Remove last cell</button>
<div>This first row has <output>2</output> cell(s).</div>

table {
  border-collapse: collapse;
}

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

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

JavaScript

// Obtain relevant interface elements
const bodySection = document.querySelectorAll("tbody")[0];
const row = bodySection.rows[0]; // Select the first row of the body section
const cells = row.cells; // The collection is live, therefore always up-to-date
const cellNumberDisplay = document.querySelectorAll("output")[0];

const addButton = document.getElementById("add");
const removeButton = document.getElementById("remove");

function updateCellNumber() {
  cellNumberDisplay.textContent = cells.length;
}

addButton.addEventListener("click", () => {
  // Add a new cell at the end of the first row
  const newCell = row.insertCell();
  newCell.textContent = `Cell ${cells.length}`;

  // Update the row counter
  updateCellNumber();
});

removeButton.addEventListener("click", () => {
  // Delete the row from the body
  row.deleteCell(-1);

  // Update the row counter
  updateCellNumber();
});

Result

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• insertRow()
• The HTML element representing cells: HTMLTableCellElement