Pass jquery selector to function

Question

Hello this may be an easy stupid question but how do i pass a jquery selector to a function?

Im doing this but its not working. Thanks in advance!

var $list=$('#startlist')
var $container=$list.parent();
var $containerTop=$('#toprow');
var $containerTwo=$('#etrow #bottomrow');

var $li=$list.find('li');

var totHt=0;
var totItems=$li.length;
var listCount = 0;
    $li.each(function( idx){

    var ht=$(this).outerHeight(true);

    if( totHt + ht >= maxHt || totHt + ht + 10 >=maxHt || idx==totItems-1){
        if (listCount>=3 && listCount < 6)
            createNewList($containerTop);
        else if (listCount >=6)
            createNewList($containerTwo);
        else
            createNewList($container);
        totHt=0;
        listCount++;
    }else{
        totHt += ht;
    }

});

function createNewList ($cont)
{
    $('<ul>').append( $(this).prevAll().andSelf() ).appendTo( $cont );

}

I get this error:

Uncaught Error: NOT_FOUND_ERR: DOM Exception 8

If i replace the if block with this it works fine:

if (listCount>=3 && listCount < 6)
                    $('<ul>').append( $(this).prevAll().andSelf() ).appendTo( $containerTop);
        else if (listCount >=6)
             $('<ul>').append( $(this).prevAll().andSelf() ).appendTo($containerTwo);
                else
             $('<ul>').append( $(this).prevAll().andSelf() ).appendTo($container);

Answer 1

Since you are defining your function outside of the .each, it is losing the context. Try using .call to properly set the context to what you expect it to be.

createNewList.call(this,$containerTop)