jQuery filter by an attribute value

Question

<div class="selectedColumns" > <a href="#" attributeid="19" >Driver License State</a> <a href="#" attributeid="21" >Email</a> <a href="#" attributeid="23" >Experience Level</a> <a href="#" attributeid="26" >First Name</a> <a href="#" attributeid="71" >Is Account Enabled</a> <a href="#" attributeid="39" >Last Contacted Date</a> <a href="#" attributeid="40" >Last Name</a> <a href="#" attributeid="41" >Middle Name</a> <a href="#" attributeid="6">Carrier</a> </div> 

I have a collection of links. Each link has an attributeid property. I would like to filter by attribute value. So in the links above if I have a value of 41 it would return the Middle Name link.

var link = $('.selectedColumns a:[attributeid==' + $(this).val() + ']'); 

This did not work?

Answer 1

Not claiming this is any more elegant, but using filter() on a collection allows much more flexibility on what you can match on, and is a little less error prone than string concatenation.

var matching = $('.selectedColumns a').filter(function(){                    return $(this).attr('attributeid') == 41                 });     matching.prop('selected', true); 

Answer 2

use a single = instead of 2. Also, the : shoudn't be there afaik

var link = $('.selectedColumns a[attributeid=' + $(this).val() + ']');