jQuery get selected option value (not the text, but the attribute 'value')

Question

04/2020: Corrected old answer

Use :selected pseudo selector on the selected options and then use the .val function to get the value of the option.

$('select[name=selector] option').filter(':selected').val()

Side note: Using filter is better then using :selected selector directly in the first query.

If inside a change handler, you could use simply this.value to get the selected option value. See demo for more options.

//ways to retrieve selected option and text outside handler
console.log('Selected option value ' + $('select option').filter(':selected').val()); 
console.log('Selected option value ' + $('select option').filter(':selected').text());

$('select').on('change', function () {
  //ways to retrieve selected option and text outside handler
  console.log('Changed option value ' + this.value);
  console.log('Changed option text ' + $(this).find('option').filter(':selected').text());
});

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.12.4/jquery.min.js"></script>
<select>
  <option value="1" selected>1 - Text</option>
  <option value="2">2 - Text</option>
  <option value="3">3 - Text</option>
  <option value="4">4 - Text</option>
</select>

Old answer:

Edit: As many pointed out, this does not returns the selected option value.

~~Use .val to get the value of the selected option. See below,

$('select[name=selector]').val()~~

I just wanted to share my experience

For me,

$('#selectorId').val()

returned null.

I had to use

$('#selectorId option:selected').val()

$('select').change(function() {
    console.log($(this).val())
});​

jsFiddle example

.val() will get the value.

You need to add an id to your select. Then:
$('#selectorID').val()

Try this:

$(document).ready(function(){
    var data= $('select').find('option:selected').val();
});

or

var data= $('select').find('option:selected').text();

you can use jquery as follows

SCRIPT

  $('#IDOfyourdropdown').change(function(){
    alert($(this).val());
  });

FIDDLE is here

For a select like this

<select class="btn btn-info pull-right" id="list-name" style="width: auto;">
   <option id="0">CHOOSE AN OPTION</option>
   <option id="127">John Doe</option>
   <option id="129" selected>Jane Doe</option>

... you can get the id this way:

$('#list-name option:selected').attr('id');

Or you can use value instead, and get it the easy way...

<select class="btn btn-info pull-right" id="list-name" style="width: auto;">
   <option value="0">CHOOSE AN OPTION</option>
   <option value="127">John Doe</option>
   <option value="129" selected>Jane Doe</option>

like this:

$('#list-name').val();