Question

function test() {
    var foo = [];
    $('#tree table').each(function(i, table) {
        foo[i] = $(table).text().trim();
    });

    var ch = 'G';

    for (j = 0; j <= 12; j++) {
        if (foo[j] ^= ch) {
            alert(foo[j]);
        }
    }
}

[foo[j] ^= ch] startsWith selector isn’t working in the above code. What do I have to do to get the expected result?

Answer 1

The starts-with selector is for use within jQuery selectors when selecting DOM elements based on the value of an attribute.

This does not work within regular javascript if() statements.

Try this instead:

var ch = 'G';
if ( foo[j].indexOf(ch) === 0 ) {
    alert( foo[j] );
}

This will check foo[j] to see if the index position (if any) of the value of the ch variable is position 0 (in other words, at the beginning).

---

EDIT:

Another alternative would be to specifically test the first character against ch. But this will only work for testing one character. If ch contains more than one, it will fail.

var ch = 'G';
if ( foo[j].charAt( 0 ) === ch ) {
    alert( foo[j] );
}