jQuery All (*) Selector

Posted in jQuery Tutorial

Updated on Oct 30, 2024

By Mari Selvan

👁️ 57 - Views

⏳ 4 mins

💬 1 Comment

Photo Credit to CodeToFun

🙋 Introduction

jQuery is renowned for its simplicity and versatility in selecting HTML elements for manipulation and event handling. One of the most powerful selectors it offers is the * selector, also known as the "all" selector. This selector allows you to target all elements on a page, offering tremendous flexibility in your jQuery scripts.

In this comprehensive guide, we'll explore the jQuery all (*) selector in depth, providing clear examples to demonstrate its usage and potential.

🧠 Understanding * Selector

The * selector matches all elements in the DOM, making it incredibly useful for applying global styles, traversing the document tree, and performing bulk operations.

💡 Syntax

The syntax for the * selector is straightforward:

syntax.js

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$("*")

📝 Example

Applying Styles to All Elements:

You can use the all (*) selector to apply CSS styles to all elements on a page. For instance, let's set the font color of all elements to red:
example.js
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```
$("*").css("color", "red");
```
This will change the font color of every element in the DOM to red.
Traversing the Document Tree:

The all (*) selector can be combined with other selectors to traverse the document tree efficiently. For example, let's select all child elements of a specific parent:
example.js
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```
$("#parentElement *").css("border", "1px solid black");
```
This will add a border to all child elements of the element with the ID parentElement.
Binding Events to All Elements:

You can bind events to all elements on a page using the all (*) selector. Here's an example where we alert a message when any element is clicked:
example.js
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```
$("*").click(function() {
  alert("Element clicked!");
});
```
This will trigger an alert whenever any element on the page is clicked.
Filtering Specific Elements:

While the all (*) selector targets all elements, you can filter specific elements using additional selectors. For example, to select only input elements, you can use:
example.js
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```
$(":input")
```
This will target all input elements on the page.

🎉 Conclusion

The jQuery all (*) selector provides unparalleled flexibility in selecting and manipulating elements on a web page. Whether you need to apply global styles, traverse the document tree, bind events, or filter specific elements, this selector empowers you to accomplish tasks efficiently.

By mastering its usage, you can streamline your jQuery scripts and create more dynamic and interactive web pages with ease.