Question

I’m trying to do something if a div contains a certain element, but can’t seem to trigger the condition. Here’s my best shot.

<div class='test'>
    testing123
</div>

<div class='test'>
  <p>testing456</p>
</div>

$('.test').each(function(){
    if(!$(this).has('p')) {
        $(this).addClass('red');
    }
});

the script is just targeting absolutely everything.
Here is a live fiddle – http://jsbin.com/igoyuk/edit#javascript,html,live

Answer 1

Be aware that .has() returns jQuery, not a boolean !

.has( selector ) Returns: jQuery
Description: Reduce the set of matched elements to those that have a descendant that matches the selector or DOM element.

Doing if(!$(this).has('p')) is always true, as jQuery always returns a set, even if it is empty !

.has() basically filters the set it is called upon, so you just have to do:

$('.test').has('p').addClass('red');