CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptjquery
Radek Simko
Radek Simko

Reputation: 16126

jQuery - Selecting elements from string

I need to select first table and then second table from the html in string. I know this can be done by selector :eq(0) and :eq(1), but

var firstTable = $("table", "<table></table>").length;

firstTable == 0. Why?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 84

Answers (2)

Matt Ball
Matt Ball

Reputation: 359786

When you pass a second argument to jQuery() (aka $()), you are specifying a context to search within. That is, this:

$(selector, context);

is equivalent to this:

$(context).find(selector);

So, you could rewrite your "broken" code like this to show why it's not finding a table element:

var firstTable = $("<table></table>").find("table").length;

...because .find() selects descendant elements only.

Upvotes: 2

Ken Redler
Ken Redler

Reputation: 23943

Try it like this to illustrate the problem:

var firstTable = $("table", "<div><table></table></div>").length;
// returns 1

The search happens within the context argument.

Upvotes: 1

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