The nodeName property is read-only and contains the name of the node, depending on type. This name is a string value and is never empty. The various types of name returned by each node are detailed below.

• Element
  the name of the tag
• Attr
  the name of the attribute
• Text
  the literal string '#text'
• CDATASection
  the literal string '#cdata-section'
• EntityReference
  the name of the entity referenced
• Entity
  the name of the entity
• ProcessingInstruction
  the target, the first token following the characters <?
• Comment
  the literal string '#comment'
• Document
  the literal string '#document'
• DocumentType
  the name of the document type
• DocumentFragment
  the literal string '#document-fragment'
• Notation
  the name of the notation

The following example uses the 'states.xml' file and obtains the node names of the document itself, and of the document's root node.

XML:
<States>
   <State ref="FL">
      <name>Florida</name>
      <capital>Tallahassee</capital>
   </State>
   <State ref="IA">
      <name>Iowa</name>
      <capital>Des Moines</capital>
   </State>
</States>

Code (JavaScript):
var xml_doc = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
xml_doc.async = false;
xml_doc.load("states.xml");

var n = xml_doc;
document.write(n.nodeName);
n = xml_doc.documentElement;
document.write("<br>" + n.nodeName);

Output:
#document
States