[javascript] forEach is not a function error with JavaScript array

I'm trying to make a simple loop:

const parent = this.el.parentElement
console.log(parent.children)
parent.children.forEach(child => {
  console.log(child)
})

But I get the following error:

VM384:53 Uncaught TypeError: parent.children.forEach is not a function

Even though parent.children logs:

What could be the problem?

Note: Here's a JSFiddle.

You can use childNodes instead of children, childNodes is also more reliable considering browser compatibility issues, more info here:

parent.childNodes.forEach(function (child) {
    console.log(child)
});

or using spread operator:

[...parent.children].forEach(function (child) {
    console.log(child)
});

You can check if you typed forEach correctly, if you typed foreach like in other programming languages it won't work.

That's because parent.children is a NodeList, and it doesn't support the .forEach method (as NodeList is an array like structure but not an array), so try to call it by first converting it to array using

var children = [].slice.call(parent.children);
children.forEach(yourFunc);

Since you are using features of ES6 (arrow functions), you may also simply use a for loop like this:

for(let child of [{0: [{'a':1,'b':2},{'c':3}]},{1:[]}]) {_x000D_
  console.log(child)_x000D_
}

parent.children is a HTMLCollection which is array-like object. First, you have to convert it to a real Array to use Array.prototype methods.

const parent = this.el.parentElement
console.log(parent.children)
[].slice.call(parent.children).forEach(child => {
  console.log(child)
})

There is no need for the forEach, you can iterate using only the from's second parameter, like so:

let nodeList = [{0: [{'a':1,'b':2},{'c':3}]},{1:[]}]_x000D_
Array.from(nodeList, child => {_x000D_
  console.log(child)_x000D_
});

parent.children will return a node list list, technically a html Collection. That is an array like object, but not an array, so you cannot call array functions over it directly. At this context you can use Array.from() to convert that into a real array,

Array.from(parent.children).forEach(child => {
  console.log(child)
})

A more naive version, at least you're sure that it'll work on all devices, without conversion and ES6 :

const children = parent.children;
for (var i = 0; i < children.length; i++){
    console.log(children[i]);
}

https://jsfiddle.net/swb12kqn/5/

If you are trying to loop over a NodeList like this:

const allParagraphs = document.querySelectorAll("p");

I highly recommend loop it this way:

Array.prototype.forEach.call(allParagraphs , function(el) {
    // Write your code here
})

Personally, I've tried several ways but most of them didn't work as I wanted to loop over a NodeList, but this one works like a charm, give it a try!

The NodeList isn't an Array, but we treat it as an Array, using Array. So, you need to know that it is not supported in older browsers!

Need more information about NodeList? Please read its documentation on MDN.

parent.children is not an array. It is HTMLCollection and it does not have forEach method. You can convert it to the array first. For example in ES6:

Array.from(parent.children).forEach(child => {
    console.log(child)
});

or using spread operator:

[...parent.children].forEach(function (child) {
    console.log(child)
});