jQuery detect if .find(' ').text() is defined or not

Question

I have such a code

if ($('#bar #username').text()!=$('.widget-' + widget.id).find('.user').text())
{
//do something
}

Unfortunately, it doesn't go through if $('.widget-' + widget.id).find('.user').text() does not exist/ underfined.

How to check if it is defined?

I've tried if (typeof $('.widget-' + widget.id).find('.user') === "undefined") to check whether it is defined or not, but it doesn't help because

alert (typeof $('.widget-' + widget.id).find('.user')) shows Object,

alert (typeof $('.widget-' + widget.id).find('.user').text()) shows String.

Answer 1

As per the jQuery FAQ, check the length property:

if ($('.widget-' + widget.id).find('.user').length) {
    // it exists
}

Answer 2

If you want to see whether a jQuery object matched any DOM elements, use $("whatever").length -- it will be nonzero.