Question

Let’s suppose I have a function that is passed multiple jQuery objects.

function manipulateStuff(obj1, obj2) { /* ... */ }
manipulateStuff($("div"), $("h1"));

Now let’s suppose I want to perform some actions on both of them.

I can always repeat the code for each, or write some code that loops through them, but I don’t feel like doing that. I want some way of combining the elements of multiple jQuery objects. The following code doesn’t work, but it demonstrates the sort of thing I’m looking for

$(obj1, obj2).css("color", "red");

Is there already a way to do this built in to jQuery? If not, can I write a small plug-in to do it?

EDIT: to be clear, I’m manipulating jQuery objects, not string selectors. I am already aware of the comma operator in selectors.

Answer 1

The easiest way if you know the selectors is to just use a comma:

$('div, h1').doSomething();

If you have anonymous jQuery objects and want to merge them, you can create a simple utility function that merges several jQuery objects of elements:

$.add = function() {
    var args = $.makeArray(arguments);
    return $.fn.add.apply(args.shift(), args);
}

var divs = $('div'),
    h1 = $('h1');

$.add(divs, h1).doSomething();

http://jsfiddle.net/hvm7z/