Question

I have a hierarchical UL list. How to – using jQuery – get the all parents of the selected LI element and change the <a>‘s background color inside each parent ?

<ul id="nav">
    <li>
        <a href="#">A</a>
        <ul>
            <li>
                <a href="#">B</a>
                <ul>
                    <li><a href="#">B1</a></li>
                    <li><a href="#">B2</a></li>
                    <li><a href="#">B3</a></li>

                    <li><a href="#">B4</a></li>
                    <li><a href="#">B5</a></li>
                </ul>
            </li>
            <li>
                <a href="#">C</a>
                <ul>
                    <li><a href="#">C1</a></li>
                    <li><a href="#">C2</a></li>
                    <li><a href="#">C3</a></li>
                </ul>
            </li>
        </ul>

If I e.g. select <a href="#">B4</a>, <a href="#">B</a> and <a href="#">A</a> will be also selected

Answer 1

The following will bind a click event to all <li> elements, and literally apply a background color to all parents and itself.

$('li').click(function() {
    $(this).parents().andSelf().css('background-color', 'red');
});

jQuery docs:

• parents
• andSelf