Universal (*)

In this chapter you will learn:

Description and Syntax for Universal selector
Examples for Universal selector
How to select all elements under a certain element
How to select all elements

Description and Syntax

$('*')

selects all elements.

Examples

$('*') all elements in the document
$('p > *') all elements that are children of a paragraph element

<!DOCTYPE html> <!--from  ja v  a 2  s. c  om-->
<html>
    <head>
        <script src="http://java2s.com/style/jquery-1.8.0.min.js"> 
        </script>
        <script>

            $(document).ready(function(){ 
                var allElements = $("*"); 
                document.writeln(allElements.length);
            }); 
        </script> 
    <body> 
        <div id="main">
            <ul id="myList"> 
                <li>A</li> 
                <li>B</li>
            </ul> 
        </div> 
    </body> 
</html>

Click to view the demo

Select all elements under a certain element

The following code selects all elements under a certain id.

<html><!--from  j  a v a2s .  co m-->
  <head>
    <script src="http://java2s.com/style/jquery-1.8.0.min.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript">
        $(document).ready(function(){
                
           $("#main > *").css("border", "3px solid red");
                
        });
    </script>
  </head>
  <body>
    <body>
      <span id="main">
        <div>asdf</div>
        <button>Child</button>
        <span>A Span</span>
      </span>
    </body>
</html>

Click to view the demo

Match all elements

The following code selects every element (including head, body, etc).

<html><!--   jav a  2 s  .  com-->
  <head>
    <script src="http://java2s.com/style/jquery-1.8.0.min.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript">
        $(document).ready(function(){

            $("*").css("border","3px solid red");

        });
    </script>
  </head>
  <body>
    <body>
          <div>A div</div>
          <button>0</button>
          <button>1</button>
          <button>2</button>
          <button>3</button>
          <span></span>
    </body>
</html>