Why is jQuery select event listener triggering multiple times?

The $(":input") selector is selecting the button too, so it causes recursion. Either use just $("input"), or $(":input:not(button)").

I noticed when the three events are fired, the first doesn't have originalEvent property, so we definitely can dismiss it, and the second two has very similar (however not identical) timestamp. You can store the last timestamp in some variable and in event listener compare it with the event's timestamp. If the rounded values of these two are the same, you can dismiss this event.

$(function() {  var lastTimeStamp;  $("input").select(function(event) {    if (!event.originalEvent ||        lastTimeStamp === Math.round(event.timeStamp)) return;    lastTimeStamp = Math.round(event.timeStamp);    $("div").text("Something was selected").show().fadeOut(1000);    alert("Selected");  });  $("button").click(function() {    $("input").select();  });});

See updated JS Fiddle.

It appears the issue is a combination of:

• the :input selector gets the input and the button, hence multiple events triggered.
• even when using just input as the selector there is some odd event propagation being triggered on related elements which is raising the select event handler multiple times.

To avoid both of the above, use input as the selector and also use preventDefault() in the event handler. stopPropagation() may also be required, depending on your HTML stucture.

$(function() {    $('input').select(function(e) {        // e.stopPropagation(); // optional        e.preventDefault();        $('#message').text("Something was selected").show().fadeOut(1000);        console.log('Selected');    });    $('button').click(function() {        $('input').select();    });});

Working example

UPDATE: We were all fooled. The select() function needs a prevent default.

Rory McCrossan figured it out. Well done mate.

Incidentally, I'm not sure what the benefit of select() actually is! Something like focus() or on('focus',) might make more sense. Not Sure what the context is however. The below still follows:

Why waste time using generalised tag/type selectors which may change? Use an ID, and pick out only the one you want.

If you want to detect multiple, use a class. If you want to use multiple, but figure out which one you clicked, use a class and an ID. Bind with the class, and identify using $this.attr('id').

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.8.3/jquery.min.js"></script><button>Click To Select</button><input type="text" value="Some text" id="pick-me"><div></div>

$(function() {  $("#pick-me").select(function(event) {    event.preventDefault();    $("div").text("Something was selected").show().fadeOut(1000);    alert("Selected");  });  $("button").click(function() {    $("#pick-me").select();  });});