Alex Rivera | Logout

Is there an "exists" function for jQuery?

Asked 2008-08-27T19:49:41.107
3165

How can I check the existence of an element in jQuery?

The current code that I have is this:

if ($(selector).length > 0) {
    // Do something
}

Is there a more elegant way to approach this? Perhaps a plugin or a function?

Edit
Report

1 Answer

20

I had a case where I wanted to see if an object exists inside of another so I added something to the first answer to check for a selector inside the selector..

// Checks if an object exists.
// Usage:
//
//     $(selector).exists()
//
// Or:
// 
//     $(selector).exists(anotherSelector);
jQuery.fn.exists = function(selector) {
    return selector ? this.find(selector).length : this.length;
};
answered 2012-04-05T21:02:46.057

Your Answer