Question

What’s the difference between

$data.find('select:selected');

and

$data.find('select').find(':selected');

?

Assume $data = $('#data') ;

  <div id="data">
    <div>
    <select multiple>
    <option value="foo">foo</option>
    </select>
    </div>
    </div>

Answer 1

$data.find('select').find(':selected');

is basically the same as

$data.find('select :selected');

Notice the descendant selector (the space between select and :selected). This finds any :selected element that’s within the select element.

Your first selector, on the other hand, finds select:selected, which doesn’t work because :selected applies to option elements only.