Question

Is there a better way to write the following function?

Having the '#' + div_id just looks wrong to me.

function hide_div(div_id) {
    $('#' + div_id).hide();
}

Answer 1

Short answer: no. Slightly longer and more hackish answer: create a function with a one-letter long name that takes the element’s ID and returns a getElementById on it, then wrap that in your jQuery $(), like so:

function i(id) {
    if (document.getElementById(id)) return document.getElementById(id);
    else return "";
}

Then:

$(i(id)).doWhatever();

But honestly, think about it:

$("#" + id)
  12345678

$(i(id))
  12345

That’s three characters. Is it worth it? Do those three characters really matter that much to you? You’re already saving a lot by not using document.getElementById(id) (27 characters).