Question

Is there an existing function that finds the first array element that matches some general predicate?

$.fn.findFirstMatching = function(predicate) {
    var result;
    $.each(this, function(index, value) {
        if (predicate(index, value)) {
            result = {index: index, value: value};
        }
    });
    if (result) {
        return result;
    }
};

Answer 1

If you use underscore.js, then you could use find method. It works even with jQuery objects storing collection of elements without problems.

_.find(array, function(value,index) { /* predicate */ });

But besides this additional (but small) library you need to write it by yourself.