How can I extract text from a specific HTML tag using JavaScript? [duplicate]

I'm working on a simple web project where I need to dynamically extract the text from a specific HTML element using JavaScript. For example, I have a with an id, and I want to get the text content from inside that element and use it elsewhere in my script.

I’ve tried using document.getElementById("quote") but I’m not sure if I should use .value, .innerHTML, or .textContent to get just the plain text. I also want to make sure this works reliably in most browsers and doesn’t return any extra HTML or quotes — just the clean string.

Also, if there are better ways to access or manipulate text content from the DOM, I’d appreciate a quick explanation or best practices.

This gave me the text, but I read that innerHTML might include HTML tags if there are any, which I don’t want.

Answer

To extract only the plain text from an HTML element using JavaScript, the best and most reliable approach is to use .textContent.

Here’s how you can do it: