How to turn jQuery each() into regular javascript loop

Question

A couple questions:

1. Is a regular javascript loop (to loop through a series of elements) faster/more efficient than using jQuery each() ??

2. If so, what is the best way to write the following code as a regular javascript loop?

$('div').each(function(){ //... })

Answer 1

Yes, removing the each() will give you slightly better performance. This is how you could write a for loop for a list of elements.

var divs = $('div');

for(var i = 0; i < divs.length; i++){
    var thisDiv = divs[i]; // element

    var $thisDiv = $(divs[i]); // jquery object

    // do stuff
}

Answer 2

var divs = document.getElementsByTagName('div'),
    l = divs.length, i, cur;

for(i=0; i<l; i++) {
    cur = divs[i];
    // do stuff with cur here
}

Please continue on your path to removing jQuery in the name of efficiency. This code is approximately fifty times faster than the jQuery equivalent.