Finding the FORM that an element belongs to in JavaScript

Posted by Magnus Smith on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Magnus Smith
Published on 2009-01-21T13:37:59Z Indexed on 2010/04/01 16:23 UTC
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How can I find out which FORM an HTML element is contained within, using a simple/small bit of JavaScript? In the example below, if I have already got hold of the SPAN called 'message', how can I easily get to the FORM element?

<form name="whatever">
    <div>
        <span id="message"></span>
    </div>
</form>

The SPAN might be nested within other tables or DIVs, but it seems too long-winded to iterate around .parentElement and work my way up the tree. Is there a simpler and shorter way?

If it wasn't a SPAN, but an INPUT element, would that be easier? Do they have a property which points back to the containing FORM? Google says no...

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