What is the difference between “this”, “$this” and “$(this)”?

Question

What is the difference between these three forms:

this $this $(this) 

Answer 1

In typical usage you'll usually see them like this (the $this usage may vary):

• this - Refers to the DOM element in the handler you're currently on, but this may be another object entirely in other situations, but it's always the context.
• $this - Usually created by var $this = $(this) a cached version of the jQuery wrapped version for efficiency (or chain off $(this) to get the same in many cases).
• $(this) - The jQuery wrapped version of the element, so you have access to all its methods (the ones in $.fn specifically).