$$ function <div id="item1">1111111111</div> <div id="item2">11111111112</div> <div id="item3">1111111113</div> <div id="itemid1">1111111114</div> <div id="contents1111">1111111115</div> <div id="contents"> <a id ='aaaaa' rel="aaaaa" href="my file">a </a> <a id ='aaaaa' rel="aaaaa" href="todd#">###</a> <a id ='aaaaa' rel="aaaaa" href="#">### </a> <a id ='aaaaa' rel="aaaaa" href="my file">a </a> 1111111116</div> <li class='faux'>as</li> <div id="sidebar"> <li class='faux' id='navbar'>navbar</li> <li class='faux' id='sidebar1'>sideba</li> </div> <script src="prototype.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> // -> all DIVs in the document. Same as document.getElementsByTagName('div')! $$('div').each(function(fruit){ var message = 'I like ' + fruit.innerText //alert(message) // do something with the message }) // -> same as $('contents'), only it returns an array anyway. //alert($$('#contents')[0].innerText) // -> all LI elements with class 'faux' //alert($$('li.faux')[0].innerText) // -> all links inside the element of ID "contents" with a rel attribute //alert($$('#contents a[rel]')) // -> all links with a href attribute of value "#" (eyeew!) //alert($$('a[href="#"]')) // -> all links within the elements of ID "navbar" or "sidebar" alert($$('#navbar li', '#sidebar li')) </script>