$('<element>') vs $('<element />') in jQuery

Question

I see people creating HTML elements in jQuery in two different ways:

$('<element>') 

and

$('<element />')  

I am curious which one is "more correct". I see the obvious advantage to the first one as being just simply less to type. Does it make a difference at all which one is used?

Answer 1

There is no difference, as seen in the source code, line 30 & line 121:

/* Line 30*/ rsingleTag = /^<(\w+)\s*\/?>(?:<\/\1>)?$/,  /* Line 121 */ // If a single string is passed in and it's a single tag // just do a createElement and skip the rest ret = rsingleTag.exec( selector ); 

The following are equivalent:

• <a></a>
• <a />
• <a>