# How to add a class to a DOM element

> Learn how to add a class to a DOM element in JavaScript using the classList.add() method, plus how to remove one with classList.remove().

Author: [Flavio Copes](https://flaviocopes.com/about/) | Published: 2018-10-18 | Topics: [Web Platform](https://flaviocopes.com/tags/platform/) | Canonical: https://flaviocopes.com/add-class-to-dom-element/

When you have a DOM element reference you can add a new class to it by using the `add` method:

```js
element.classList.add('myclass')
```

You can remove a class using the `remove` method:

```js
element.classList.remove('myclass')
```

Implementation detail: `classList` is not an array, but rather it is a collection of type [DOMTokenList](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/DOMTokenList).

You can't directly edit `classList` because it's a read-only property. You can however use its methods to change the element classes.