Question

In this question, the following code is used –

var parent = $("#jcontent"); 
var button1 = $(".button1", parent) ;

to select a button of class button1 within the parent of id jcontent.

Why does this work? How does passing a jQuery object as a parameter to a jQuery selector tell it to select within that object? Can someone link to the docs which explain this function?

Answer 1

It’s the context parameter for the core method call.

The parameter is described as:

A DOM Element, Document, or jQuery to use as context

And then there’s a section labelled “Selector Context,” which starts with:

By default, selectors perform their searches within the DOM starting at the document root. However, an alternate context can be given for the search by using the optional second parameter to the $() function.