jQuery provides methods to traverse downwards inside the DOM tree to find descendant(s) of a given element. These methods can be used to find a child, grandchild, great-grandchild, and so on for a given element inside the DOM.
There are following three methods to traverse downwards inside the DOM tree:
- children() – returns all the direct children of the matched element.
- find() – returns all the descendant elements of the matched element.
The children() method differs from find() in that children() only travels a single level down the DOM tree where as find() method can traverse down multiple levels to select descendant elements (children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren etc.) as well.
jQuery children() Method
The jQuery children() method returns all the direct children of the matched element. Following is a simple syntax of the method:
$(selector).children([filter])
We can optionally provide a filter selector in the method. If the filter is supplied, the elements will be filtered by testing whether they match it.
Synopsis
Consider the following HTML content:
<div class="great-grand-parent">
<div class="grand-parent">
<ul class="parent">
<li class="child-one">Child One</li>
<li class="child-two">Child Two</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="grand-parent">
<ul class="parent">
<li class="child-three">Child Three</li>
<li class="child-four">Child Four</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
Now if we use the children() method as follows:
$( ".great-grand-parent" ).children().css( "border", "2px solid red" );
It will produce following result:
<div class="great-grand-parent">
<div class="grand-parent" style="border:2px solid red">
<ul class="parent">
<li class="child-one">Child One</li>
<li class="child-two">Child Two</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="grand-parent" style="border:2px solid red">
<ul class="parent">
<li class="child-three">Child Three</li>
<li class="child-four">Child Four</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
Example
Let’s try the following example and verify the result:
<!doctype html>
<html>
<head>
<title>The jQuery Example</title>
<script src="https://www.tutorialspoint.com/jquery/jquery-3.6.0.js"></script>
<script>
$(document).ready(function() {
$("button").click(function(){
$( ".great-grand-parent" ).children().css( "border", "2px solid red" );
});
});
</script>
<style>
.great-grand-parent *{display:block; border:2px solid #aaa; color:#aaa; padding:5px; margin:5px;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div class="great-grand-parent">
<div class="grand-parent" style="width:500px;">
<ul class="parent">
<li class="child-one">Child One</li>
<li class="child-two">Child Two</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="grand-parent" style="width:500px;">
<ul class="parent">
<li class="child-three">Child Three</li>
<li class="child-four">Child Four</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<button>Mark Children</button>
</body>
</html>
jQuery find() Method
The jQuery find() method returns all descendants of the matched element. Following is a simple syntax of the method:
$(selector).find([ilter)
Here filter selector is mandatory for this method. To return all the descendants of the matched element, we need to pass * as a filter otherwise if the filter is supplied as an element, the elements will be filtered by testing whether they match it.
Synopsis
Consider the following HTML content:
<div class="great-grand-parent">
<div class="grand-parent">
<ul class="parent">
<li class="child-one">Child One</li>
<li class="child-two">Child Two</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="grand-parent">
<ul class="parent">
<li class="child-three">Child Three</li>
<li class="child-four">Child Four</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
Now if we use the find(“li”) method as follows:
$( ".grand-parent" ).find("li").css( "border", "2px solid red" );
It will produce following result:
<div class="great-grand-parent">
<div class="grand-parent">
<ul class="parent">
<li class="child-one" style="border:2px solid red">Child One</li>
<li class="child-two" style="border:2px solid red">Child Two</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="grand-parent" style="border:2px solid red">
<ul class="parent">
<li class="child-three" style="border:2px solid red">Child Three</li>
<li class="child-four" style="border:2px solid red">Child Four</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
Example
Let’s try the following example and verify the result:
<!doctype html>
<html>
<head>
<title>The jQuery Example</title>
<script src="https://www.tutorialspoint.com/jquery/jquery-3.6.0.js"></script>
<script>
$(document).ready(function() {
$("button").click(function(){
$( ".grand-parent" ).find("li").css( "border", "2px solid red" );
});
});
</script>
<style>
.great-grand-parent *{display:block; border:2px solid #aaa; color:#aaa; padding:5px; margin:5px;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div class="great-grand-parent">
<div class="grand-parent" style="width:500px;">
<ul class="parent">
<li class="child-one">Child One</li>
<li class="child-two">Child Two</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="grand-parent" style="width:500px;">
<ul class="parent">
<li class="child-three">Child Three</li>
<li class="child-four">Child Four</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<button>Mark Children</button>
</body>
</html>