Question

I was reviewing code and found that

$("#item1 #item2") and $("#item1>#item2")

are used interchangeably. Is there any difference or is it one and the same?

Answer 1

Both will match

<div id="item1">
    <div id="item2">
    </div>
</div>

But only the first one will match

<div id="item1">
    <div>
        <div id="item2">
        </div>
    </div>
</div>

The first expression uses the descendant selector. The > symbol in the second expression is the child selector. Both are standard CSS selectors.

However, since ids must be unique, both are overcomplicated. Instead, you should just use $('#item2')