How do I clear all options in a dropdown box?

Question

My code works in IE but breaks in Safari, Firefox, and Opera. (big surprise)

document.getElementById("DropList").options.length=0;

After searching, I've learned that it's the length=0 that it doesn't like.
I've tried ...options=null and var clear=0; ...length=clear with the same result.

I am doing this to multiple objects at a time, so I am looking for some lightweight JS code.

Answer 1

The items should be removed in reverse, otherwise it will cause an error. Also, I do not recommended simply setting the values to null, as that may cause unexpected behaviour.

var select = document.getElementById("myselect");
for (var i = select.options.length - 1 ; i >= 0 ; i--)
    select.remove(i);

Or if you prefer, you can make it a function:

function clearOptions(id)
{
    var select = document.getElementById(id);
    for (var i = select.options.length - 1 ; i >= 0 ; i--)
        select.remove(i);
}
clearOptions("myselect");

Answer 2

You can use the following to clear all the elements. Note that

var select = document.getElementById("DropList");
var length = select.options.length;
for (i = 0; i < length; i++) {
  select.options[i] = null;
}

Answer 3

This is the shortest way:

document.getElementById('mySelect').innerText = null

One line, no for, no JQuery, simple.

Answer 4

To remove the options of a select html object, you can use this piece of code:

function removeOptions(selectbox)
{
    var i;
    for(i = selectbox.options.length - 1 ; i >= 0 ; i--)
    {
        selectbox.remove(i);
    }
}
//using the function:
removeOptions(document.getElementById("mySelectObject"));

This will work in all browsers. =)

Answer 5

function removeOptions(obj) {
    while (obj.options.length) {
        obj.remove(0);
    }
}

Answer 6

var select =$('#selectbox').val();