Question

I want to check if a certain check box is selected using JavaScript/jQuery.

Here is the code I tried:

var a;
    if ($("#add_desc").checked == 1){
        a = "true";
    }else{
        a= "false";
    }

I have also tried:

var a;
    if ($("#add_desc").checked){
        a= "true";
    }else{
        a= "false";
    }

It always returns false once I alert the variable a.

Any idea why it won’t work for me? Am I doing it wrong?

Thanks!

Answer 1

To get the value of the checked property on a checkbox input, use the .prop() method, or get the value directly from the DOM element. [0] returns the first selected DOM element.

var a;
if ($("#add_desc")[0].checked){
    a= "true";
}else{
    a= "false";
}

or

var a;
if ($("#add_desc").prop("checked")){
    a= "true";
}else{
    a= "false";
}

Edit
For versions of jQuery older than 1.6, .prop didn’t exist, use .attr as a direct replacement.