Get the current jQuery selector string?

Question

When calling a custom plugin, how can I get the current selector string?

$('my_selector p').my_plugin();

Would like to output my_selector p within my script. How can I access this string?

Answer 1

You can use selector property:

$('my_selector p').selector // my_selector p 

version deprecated: 1.7, removed: 1.9

Answer 2

Post selector deprecation v. 1.7:

If you're only dealing with ids and classes as selectors you can use the following:

var selector = (typeof($(this).attr('id')) !== 'undefined' || $(this).attr('id') !== null) ? '#' + $(this).attr('id') :  '.' + $(this).attr('class'); 

There are cleaner ways but since the removal of .selector due to being inconsistent between browsers since 1.7, this has been my go-to.

Answer 3

Being deprecated, the official advice is to add the selector as a parameter in your function call: https://api.jquery.com/selector/

Plugins that need to use a selector string within their plugin can require it as a parameter of the method. For example, a "foo" plugin could be written as

$.fn.foo = function( selector, options ) { /* plugin code goes here */ };

and the person using the plugin would write

$( "div.bar" ).foo( "div.bar", {dog: "bark"} );

Redundant, yes, but it's always reliable.

Answer 4

jQuery.fn.getSelector = function() {
        return this.data('selector');
};