javascript document.getElementsByClassName compatibility with IE

It's not a method of document:

function getElementsByClassName(node, classname) {
    var a = [];
    var re = new RegExp('(^| )'+classname+'( |$)');
    var els = node.getElementsByTagName("*");
    for(var i=0,j=els.length; i<j; i++)
        if(re.test(els[i].className))a.push(els[i]);
    return a;
}

tabs = getElementsByClassName(document.body,'tab');  // no document

you may create the function for older browsers

if (typeof document.getElementsByClassName!='function') {
    document.getElementsByClassName = function() {
        var elms = document.getElementsByTagName('*');
        var ei = new Array();
        for (i=0;i<elms.length;i++) {
            if (elms[i].getAttribute('class')) {
                ecl = elms[i].getAttribute('class').split(' ');
                for (j=0;j<ecl.length;j++) {
                    if (ecl[j].toLowerCase() == arguments[0].toLowerCase()) {
                        ei.push(elms[i]);
                    }
                }
            } else if (elms[i].className) {
                ecl = elms[i].className.split(' ');
                for (j=0;j<ecl.length;j++) {
                    if (ecl[j].toLowerCase() == arguments[0].toLowerCase()) {
                        ei.push(elms[i]);
                    }
                }
            }
        }
        return ei;
    }
}

function getElementsByClassName(className) {
if (document.getElementsByClassName) { 
  return document.getElementsByClassName(className); }
else { return document.querySelectorAll('.' + className); } }

Pretty sure this is the same as Leonid's function but this uses document.getElementsByClassName when it can.

You can't really replicate getElementsByClassName, because it returns a nodeList, and so its value is live, and updates with the document.

You can return a static Array of elements who share the same classnames- but it won't 'know'when the document changes.

(It won't take too many of these kind of things to make a library look svelte...)

function getArrayByClassNames(classes, pa){
    if(!pa) pa= document;
    var C= [], G;
    if(pa.getElementsByClassName){
        G= pa.getElementsByClassName(classes);
        for(var i= 0, L= G.length; i<L; i++){
            C[i]= G[i];
        }
    }
    else{
        classes= classes.split(/\s+/);
        var who, cL= classes.length,
        cn, G= pa.getElementsByTagName('*'), L= G.length;
        for(var i= 0; i<cL; i++){
            classes[i]= RegExp('\\b'+classes[i]+'\\b');
        }
        classnameLoop:
        while(L){
            who= G[--L];
            cn= who.className;
            if(cn){
                for(var i= 0; i<cL; i++){
                    if(classes[i].test(cn)== false) {
                        continue classnameLoop;
                    }
                }
                C.push(who);
            }
        }
    }
    return C;
}

//Example

var A= getArrayByClassNames('sideBar local')

IE8:

document.getElementsByClassName = function (className) {
    return document.querySelectorAll('.' + className)
}