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Select parent through child element via ID in jquery?

I have a button in a form with a unique ID. I'm trying to select the form that button is in using the ID of the button. Something like: 

    $('#submitButton').parent;

But that doesn't work.

Solution

  • jQuery's parent is a function:

    var $parent = $('#submitButton').parent();

    You will find most of the jQuery API is made of functions and not properties.

    You can also get at the underlying DOM object (and therefore its properties) using $('#submitButton')[0].somepropertyname but not recommended if you are already using jQuery.

    based on the wording of your question you probably should use closest instead:

    e.g.

    var $form = $('#submitButton').closest('form');

    jQuery's closest() returns the nearest matching object from the list of ancestors and the object itself.