Selecting by Position

Elements can be selected by their relation to other elements (child/parent relationships), or by hierarchical position in a document.

The following table lists the position selector by using li as an example.

SelectorMeaning
li:evenreturns the even numbered members of the matched set.
li:oddreturns the even numbered members of the matched set.
li:firstreturns the first element of the matched set.
li:lastreturns the last element of the matched set.
li:eq(3)returns the 4th element in the matched set.
li:gt(2)returns all elements of index greater than 2 in the matched set.
li:lt(3)returns all elements of index less than 3 in the matched set.

All position selectors start their count at zero.

 
<ol id="fowl"> 
    <li>A</li> <!-- 0 --> 
    <li>B</li> <!-- 1 --> 
    <li>C</li> <!-- 2 --> 
    <li>D</li> <!-- 3 --> 
    <li>E</li> <!-- 4 --> 
</ol>
  

$("li:even") // returns A, C, and E 
$("li:odd") // returns B and D 
$("li:first") // returns A 
$("li:last") // returns E 
$("li:eq(3)") // returns D 
$("li:gt(2)") // returns D and E 
$("li:lt(3)") // returns C, B, A.
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Selector:
  1. jQuery Selector
  2. DOM Element Selection
  3. Filter Selectors
  4. Selecting by Position
  5. Filtering by Content
  6. Filtering by Relationships
  7. Escape characters
  8. ID attribute
  9. Tag Name
  10. Class Name
  11. Descendant
  12. Child (E > F)
  13. General sibling (E ~ F)
  14. Multiple expressions (E, F, G)
  15. Universal (*)
  16. Numbered child (:nth-child(n/even/odd/expr))
  17. First child (:first-child)
  18. Last child (:last-child)
  19. Only child (:only-child)
  20. Not (:not(E))
  21. Empty (:empty)
  22. Attribute selectors
  23. Attribute ([attr])
  24. Attribute equals ([foo=bar])
  25. Attribute does not equal ([foo!=bar])
  26. Attribute begins with ([foo^=bar])
  27. Attribute ends with ([foo$=bar])
  28. Attribute contains ([foo*=bar])
  29. Attribute contains word ([foo~=bar])
  30. Attribute contains prefix ([foo|=bar])
  31. Attribute exists $("[attributeName*='value']");
  32. Form selectors (:input)
  33. Form text fields (input:text)
  34. Form Password field (input:password)
  35. Form Radio button (input:radio)
  36. Form Checkbox (input:checkbox)
  37. Form Submit button (input:submit)
  38. Form Image button (input:image)
  39. Form Reset button (input:reset)
  40. Form button (input:button)
  41. Form File upload (input:file)
  42. Form Enabled form element (input:enabled)
  43. Form Disabled form element (input:disabled)
  44. Form Checked box (input:checked)
  45. Form Selected option (input:selected)
  46. Element at index (:eq(n))
  47. Greater than (:gt(n))
  48. Less than (:lt(n))
  49. First (:first)
  50. Last (:last)
  51. Even element (:even)
  52. Odd element (:odd)
  53. Is parent (:parent)
  54. Contains text (:contains(text))
  55. Contains element (:has(E))
  56. Visible (:visible)
  57. Hidden (:hidden)
  58. Header element (:header)
  59. Currently animating (:animated)
  60. $(this)
  61. Custom User Selectors