Question

My question is straightforward. This is my code, and I find that they are two similar how can I improve/make this code shorter?

I find they are similar at many points, that is why I am asking here.

Here is my code and any help is appreciated.

$(".follow-link").click(function(event) {
    event.preventDefault();
    var therel = $(this).attr('rel');
    var followID = $(this).attr('rel').replace(/[^0-9]/g, '');
    var thisfollow = $(this);
    $.ajax({
        url: '/ajax/follow.php',
        type: 'POST',
        data: {followwho : followID},
        dataType: 'json',
        success: function(data){
            if (data.status) {
                $('a[rel="' + therel + '"]').hide();
                $('a[rel="' + therel + '"]').parent().children('.unfollow-link').fadeIn();
            }
        }
    });
});

$(".unfollow-link").click(function(event) {
    event.preventDefault();
    var therel = $(this).attr('rel');
    var followID = $(this).attr('rel').replace(/[^0-9]/g, '');
    var thisfollow = $(this);
    $.ajax({
        url: '/ajax/unfollow.php',
        type: 'POST',
        data: {followwho : followID},
        dataType: 'json',
        success: function(data){
            if (data.status) {
                $('a[rel="' + therel + '"]').hide();
                $('a[rel="' + therel + '"]').parent().children('.follow-link').fadeIn();
            }
        }
    });
});

Answer 1

Make one common function and do some simplification cleanup work in that function:

function followAjax(event, sel, phpurl) {
    event.preventDefault();
    var thisfollow = $(this);
    var therel = thisfollow.attr('rel');
    var followID = therel.replace(/[^0-9]/g, '');
    $.ajax({
        url: phpurl,
        type: 'POST',
        data: {followwho : followID},
        dataType: 'json',
        success: function(data){
            if (data.status) {
                $('a[rel="' + therel + '"]').hide().parent().children(sel).fadeIn();
            }
        }
    });
}

$(".unfollow-link").click(function(event) {
    followAjax.call(this, event, ".follow-link", '/ajax/unfollow.php')
});
$(".follow-link").click(function(event) {
    followAjax.call(this, event, ".unfollow-link", '/ajax/follow.php')
});