How do you check if a selector matches something in jQuery? [duplicate]

As the other commenters are suggesting the most efficient way to do it seems to be:

if ($(selector).length ) {    // Do something}

If you absolutely must have an exists() function - which will be slower- you can do:

jQuery.fn.exists = function(){return this.length>0;}

Then in your code you can use

if ($(selector).exists()) {    // Do something}

As answered here

javascript jquery jquery-selectors

no, jquery always returns a jquery object regardless if a selector was matched or not.You need to use .length

if ( $('#someDiv').length ){}

javascript jquery jquery-selectors

if you used:

jQuery.fn.exists = function(){return ($(this).length > 0);}if ($(selector).exists()) { }

you would imply that chaining was possible when it is not.

This would be better

jQuery.exists = function(selector) {return ($(selector).length > 0);}if ($.exists(selector)) { }

CodeHunter