Question

Is there a possibility to add the children of elements in a jQuery set to the set without leaving the chain?

I.e., with leaving it would look like this:

var set = $('.some-elements');
set.add('*', set);
// or immediate ones only
set.add(set.children());

I’m looking for a way to do any of these without creating the interim set variable:

$('.some-elements').jqMagic("*");

(Of course one could write a “jqMagic” plugin for this. I just want to be sure, there isn’t this functionality in jQuery core.)

Answer 1

I believe AndSelf will let you do what you’re asking.

update with example:

Given the following html:

<div id="1" class="testdiv">
   <a href="#">test a</a>
   <a href="#">test b</a>
</div>


<div id="2" class="testdiv">
    <a href="#">test c</a>
    <a href="#">test d</a>
</div>

This code gives just the children (anchor tags in this case) a red border:

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">

    $('.testdiv').children().css('border','solid 1px red');

</script>

while this code (using andSelf()) includes the parent divs in the element list and therefore selects both the parent divs and the child divs – thus giving a merged set as you requested:

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">

    $('.testdiv').children().andSelf().css('border','solid 1px red');

</script>