[Solved] Remove empty class="" from DOM?

[Rugg]

Wondering if there’s a method for removing empty class strings from the DOM?

For Example:

Using jQuery .addClass('current'); to the current element in a set of divs will update the DOM tree accordingly. If, however, the element does not initially have a class name, the class string will remain empty class= "" — even after using .removeClass('current');.

Before Traversing DOM Tree:

 <div id="a" class="current"></div>
 <div id="b"></div>
 <div id="c"></div>
 <div id="d"></div>

After:

<div id="a" class=""></div>
<div id="b" class=""></div>
<div id="c" class=""></div>
<div id="d" class="current"></div>

Can class="" be removed from the DOM? Or is this default behavior?

[__]

There is no difference between an empty class attribute and not having it there at all. The DOM looks the same either way.

(Remember, the HTML markup is not the DOM. Neither is the markup you see in dev tools/ firebug/ whatever. It’s just a representation.)

[__]

Right—that’s just a representation of the DOM, not the DOM itself.

I’m not sure if there is any effective difference between <element class=""> and <element>, but I’ve never come across any.

Some elements are boolean (hidden, for example, is the same as hidden=true or hidden=false; it is always “hidden” unless the attribute is actually removed). But class doesn’t work that way.

Is there some problem you actually need to solve, or are you just exploring the behavior?

[andu]

I’m aware this is a very old question, but having to deal with this issue myself, I thought about posting the answer. Maybe it will help others along the way:

for the whole document:
document.body.innerHTML = document.body.innerHTML.replace(/class=””/g, ”);

for a specific element:
myParent.innerHTML = myParent.innerHTML.replace(/class=””/g, ”);

---

Inspired from:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5558613/replace-words-in-the-body-text

[Shikkediel]

Or just this:

$('#a').removeAttr('class');

[nevf]

@andu This will not only replace empty class attributes but also any class=”” text, which is not what one would want.

[Author]

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