| jQuery | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Original author | John Resig |
| Developer | The jQuery Team |
| Initial release | August 26, 2006; 19 years ago (2006-08-26) |
| Stable release | |
| Preview release | |
| Repository | |
| Written in | JavaScript |
| Platform | See§ Browser support |
| Size | 27–274 KB[3] |
| Type | JavaScript library |
| License | MIT |
| Website | jquery |
jQuery is aJavaScript library designed to simplifyHTMLDOM tree traversal and manipulation, as well asevent handling,CSS animations, andAjax.[4] It isfree, open-source software using the permissiveMIT License.[5] As of August 2022[update], jQuery is used by 77% of the 10 million most popular websites.[6]Web analysis indicates that it is the most widely deployed JavaScript library by a large margin, having at least three to four times more usage than any other JavaScript library.[6][7]
jQuery's syntax is designed to make it easier to navigate a document, selectDOM elements, createanimations, handleevents, and developAjax applications. jQuery also provides capabilities for developers to createplug-ins on top of the JavaScript library. This enables developers to createabstractions for low-level interaction and animation, advanced effects and high-level, theme-able widgets. The modular approach to the jQuery library allows the creation of powerfuldynamic web pages and Web applications.
The set ofjQuery core features—DOM element selections, traversal, and manipulation—enabled by itsselector engine (named "Sizzle" from v1.3), created a new "programming style", fusing algorithms and DOM data structures. This style influenced the architecture of otherJavaScript frameworks likeYUI v3 andDojo, later stimulating the creation of the standardSelectors API.[8]
Microsoft andNokia bundle jQuery on their platforms.[9] Microsoft includes it withVisual Studio[10] for use within Microsoft'sASP.NET AJAX andASP.NET MVC frameworks while Nokia has integrated it into the Web Run-Time widget development platform.[11]
jQuery, at its core, is aDocument Object Model (DOM) manipulation library. The DOM is a tree-structure representation of all the elements of a Web page. jQuery simplifies the syntax for finding, selecting, and manipulating these DOM elements. For example, jQuery can be used for finding an element in the document with a certain property (e.g. all elements with theh1 tag), changing one or more of its attributes (e.g.color,visibility), or making it respond to an event (e.g. a mouse click).
jQuery also provides a paradigm for event handling that goes beyond basic DOM element selection and manipulation. The event assignment and the event callback function definition are done in a single step in a single location in the code. jQuery also aims to incorporate other highly used JavaScript functionality (e.g. fade ins and fade outs when hiding elements, animations by manipulatingCSS properties).
The principles of developing with jQuery are:
jQuery was originally created in January 2006 atBarCamp NYC byJohn Resig, influenced by Dean Edwards' earlier cssQuery library.[12][13] It is currently maintained by a team of developers led by Timmy Willison (with the jQuery selector engine, Sizzle, being led by Richard Gibson).[14]
jQuery was originally licensed under theCC BY-SA 2.5, andrelicensed to theMIT License in 2006.[15] At the end of 2006, it wasdual-licensed underGPL and MIT licenses.[16] As this led to some confusion, in 2012 the GPL was dropped and is now only licensed under the MIT license.[17]
jQuery includes the following features:
jQuery.inArray() andjQuery.each().jQuery 3.0 and newer supports "current−1 versions" (meaning the current stable version of the browser and the version that preceded it) ofFirefox (and ESR),Chrome,Safari, andEdge as well asInternet Explorer9 and newer. On mobile it supportsiOS 7 and newer, andAndroid 4.0 and newer.[22]
The jQuery library is typically distributed as a single JavaScript file that defines all its interfaces, including DOM, Events, and Ajax functions. It can be included within a Web page by linking to a local copy or by linking to one of the many copies available from public servers. jQuery has acontent delivery network (CDN) hosted byMaxCDN.[23] Google in Google Hosted Libraries service and Microsoft host the library as well.[24][25]
Example of linking a copy of the library locally (from the same server that hosts the Web page):
<scriptsrc="jquery-3.7.1.min.js"></script>
Example of linking a copy of the library from jQuery's public CDN:
<scriptsrc="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.7.1.min.js"integrity="sha256-/JqT3SQfawRcv/BIHPThkBvs0OEvtFFmqPF/lYI/Cxo="crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
jQuery provides two kinds offunctions,static utility functions and jQueryobject methods. Each has its own usage style.
Both are accessed through jQuery's main identifier:jQuery. This identifier has an alias named$.[26] All functions can be accessed through either of these two names.
ThejQuery function is afactory for creating a jQuery object that represents one or more DOM nodes. jQuery objects have methods to manipulate these nodes. These methods (sometimes calledcommands), arechainable as each method also returns a jQuery object.
Access to and manipulation of multiple DOM nodes in jQuery typically begins with calling the$ function with a CSS selector string. This returns a jQuery object referencing all the matching elements in theHTML page.$("div.test"), for example, returns a jQuery object with all thediv elements that have the classtest. This node set can be manipulated by calling methods on the returned jQuery object.
These are utility functions and do not directly act upon a jQuery object. They are accessed as static methods on the jQuery or $ identifier. For example,$.ajax() is a static method.
jQuery provides a$.noConflict() function, which relinquishes control of the$ name. This is useful if jQuery is used on a Web page also linking another library that demands the$ symbol as its identifier. In no-conflict mode, developers can usejQuery as a replacement for$ without losing functionality.[27]
Typically, jQuery is used by putting initialization code and event handling functions in$(handler). This is triggered by jQuery when the browser has finished constructing the DOM for the current Web page.
$(function(){// This anonymous function is called when the page has completed loading.// Here, one can place code to create jQuery objects, handle events, etc.});
or
$(fn);// The function named fn, defined elsewhere, is called when the page has loaded.
Historically,$(document).ready(callback) has been the de facto idiom for running code after the DOM is ready. However, since jQuery 3.0, developers are encouraged to use the much shorter$(handler) signature instead.[28]
jQuery object methods typically also return a jQuery object, which enables the use ofmethod chains:
$('div.test').on('click',handleTestClick).addClass('foo');
This line finds alldivelements with class attributetest , then registers an event handler on each element for the "click" event, then adds the class attributefoo to each element.
Certain jQuery object methods retrieve specific values (instead of modifying a state). An example of this is theval() method, which returns the current value of atext input element. In these cases, a statement such as$('#user-email').val() cannot be used for chaining as the return value does not reference a jQuery object.
Besides accessing existing DOM nodes through jQuery, it is also possible to create new DOM nodes, if the string passed as the argument to$() factory looks like HTML. For example, the below code finds an HTMLselect element, and creates a newoption element with the valueVAG and the labelVolkswagen, which is then appended to theselect menu:
$('select#car-brands').append($('<option>').prop(value,"VAG").text('Volkswagen'));
It is possible to makeAjax requests (withcross-browser support) with$.ajax() to load and manipulate remote data.
$.ajax({type:'POST',url:'/process/submit.php',data:{name:'John',location:'Boston',},}).then(function(msg){alert('Data Saved: '+msg);}).catch(function(xmlHttpRequest,statusText,errorThrown){alert('Your form submission failed.\n\n'+'XML Http Request: '+JSON.stringify(xmlHttpRequest)+',\nStatus Text: '+statusText+',\nError Thrown: '+errorThrown);});
This example posts the dataname=John andlocation=Boston to/process/submit.php on the server. When this request finishes the success function is called to alert the user. If the request fails it will alert the user to the failure, the status of the request, and the specific error.
The above example uses the.then() and.catch() methods to register callbacks that run when the response has completed. Thesepromise callbacks must be used due to the asynchronous nature ofAjax requests.
jQuery's architecture allows developers to createplug-in code to extend its function. There are thousands of jQuery plug-ins available on the Web[29] that cover a range of functions, such as Ajax helpers,Web services, datagrids, dynamic lists,XML andXSLT tools,drag and drop, events,cookie handling, andmodal windows.
An important source of jQuery plug-ins is the plugins sub-domain of the jQuery Project website.[29] The plugins in this subdomain, however, were accidentally deleted in December 2011 in an attempt to rid the site of spam.[30] The new site is aGitHub-hosted repository, which required developers to resubmit their plugins and to conform to new submission requirements.[31] jQuery provides a "Learning Center" that can help users understand JavaScript and get started developing jQuery plugins.[32]
Additionally, for those looking to convert jQuery plugins or code to vanilla JavaScript, tools like the[33] [jQuery to JavaScript Converter](https://codentools.com/jquery-convert-javascript) can be very helpful in automating part of the transition and reducing reliance on jQuery.
| Version | Initial release | Latest update | Minified size (KB) | Additional notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | August 26, 2006 (2006-08-26) | First stable release | ||
| 1.1 | January 14, 2007 (2007-01-14) | |||
| 1.2 | September 10, 2007 (2007-09-10) | 1.2.6 | 54.5 | |
| 1.3 | January 14, 2009 (2009-01-14) | 1.3.2 | 55.9 | Sizzle Selector Engine introduced into core |
| 1.4 | January 14, 2010 (2010-01-14) | 1.4.4 | 76.7 | |
| 1.5 | January 31, 2011 (2011-01-31) | 1.5.2 | 83.9 | Deferred callback management, ajax module rewrite |
| 1.6 | May 3, 2011 (2011-05-03) | 1.6.4 (September 12, 2011 (2011-09-12))[34] | 89.5 | Significant performance improvements to the attr() and val() functions |
| 1.7 | November 3, 2011 (2011-11-03) | 1.7.2 (March 21, 2012 (2012-03-21))[35] | 92.6 | New Event APIs: .on() and .off(), while the old APIs are still supported. |
| 1.8 | August 9, 2012 (2012-08-09) | 1.8.3 (November 13, 2012 (2012-11-13))[36] | 91.4 | Sizzle Selector Engine rewritten, improved animations and $(html, props) flexibility. |
| 1.9 | January 15, 2013 (2013-01-15) | 1.9.1 (February 4, 2013 (2013-02-04))[37] | 90.5 | Removal of deprecated interfaces and code cleanup |
| 1.10 | May 24, 2013 (2013-05-24) | 1.10.2 (July 3, 2013 (2013-07-03))[38] | 90.9 | Incorporated bug fixes and differences reported from both the 1.9 and 2.0 beta cycles |
| 1.11 | January 24, 2014 (2014-01-24) | 1.11.3 (April 28, 2015 (2015-04-28))[39] | 93.7 | |
| 1.12 | January 8, 2016 (2016-01-08) | 1.12.4 (May 20, 2016 (2016-05-20))[40] | 94.9 | |
| 2.0 | April 18, 2013 (2013-04-18) | 2.0.3 (July 3, 2013 (2013-07-03)) | 81.7 | Dropped IE 6–8 support for performance improvements and reduction in filesize |
| 2.1 | January 24, 2014 (2014-01-24) | 2.1.4 (April 28, 2015 (2015-04-28)) | 82.4 | |
| 2.2 | January 8, 2016 (2016-01-08) | 2.2.4 (May 20, 2016 (2016-05-20)) | 83.6 | |
| 3.0 | June 9, 2016 (2016-06-09)[41] | 3.0.0 (June 9, 2016 (2016-06-09)) | 84.3 | Promises/A+ support for Deferreds, $.ajax and $.when, .data() HTML5-compatible |
| 3.1 | July 7, 2016 (2016-07-07) | 3.1.1 (September 23, 2016 (2016-09-23)) | 84.7 | jQuery.readyException added, ready handler errors are now not silenced |
| 3.2 | March 16, 2017 (2017-03-16)[42] | 3.2.1 (March 20, 2017 (2017-03-20)) | 84.6 | Added support for retrieving contents of<template> elements, and deprecation of various old methods. |
| 3.3 | January 19, 2018 (2018-01-19)[43] | 3.3.1 (January 20, 2018 (2018-01-20))[44] | 84.9 | Deprecation of old functions, functions that accept classes now also support them in array format. |
| 3.4 | April 10, 2019 (2019-04-10)[45] | 3.4.1 (May 1, 2019)[46] | 86.1 | Performance improvements,nonce andnomodule support, fixes for radio elements, a minor security fix. |
| 3.5 | April 10, 2020 (2020-04-10)[47] | 3.5.1 (May 4, 2020)[48] | 87.4 | Security fixes,.even() &.odd() methods,jQuery.trim deprecated |
| 3.6 | March 2, 2021 (2021-03-02)[49] | 3.6.4 (March 8, 2023)[50] | 88.2[51] | Bug fixes, return JSON when there is a JSONP error, handling of new Chrome selectors |
| 3.7 | May 11, 2023 (2023-05-11)[52] | 3.7.1 (August 28, 2023)[53] | 85.4[54] | .uniqueSort() method, performance improvements,.outerWidth(true) &.outerHeight(true) handling of negative margins, focus fixes |
| 4.0 | August 11, 2025 (2025-08-11)[55] | 4.0.0-rc.1 (August 11, 2025)[55] | 78.8 | support for IE 10 and lower dropped (IE 11 is still supported), deprecated APIs removed, Array methods removed, focus event order changed, support for FormData, migration to ES modules |
QUnit is atest automation framework used to test the jQuery project. The jQuery team developed it as an in-house unit testing library.[56] The jQuery team uses it to test its code and plugins, but it can test any generic JavaScript code, including server-side JavaScript code.[56]
As of 2011[update], the jQuery Testing Team usesQUnit withTestSwarm to test each jQuery codebase release.[57]
Simplifying tasks such as HTML document traversal, animation, and event handling, thestalwart jQuery JavaScript library changed the face of web development. As of May 2019[update], jQuery is still being used in 74 percent of known websites, according to web technology surveyor W3Techs. Nevertheless, the jQuery library, which debuted in August 2006, is now being viewed by some developers as an older technology whose time has passed.Alternatives to jQuery have emerged in recent years, such as the Cash library or even just modern, vanilla JavaScript, now that web browsers all handle JavaScript the same way and jQuery is no longer needed to solve compatibility issues. Arguments on Reddit and videos on YouTube make the case that jQuery has become obsolete, or at least is not as essential as it once was.
Ascross-browser compatibility is no longer as much of an issue, most of jQuery can nowadays be replaced with modern web standards, without losing much convenience.[59] Partly due to this,GitHub removed jQuery from its pages in 2018.[60]
jQuery (74.1%) is 3.7 times more popular than Bootstrap (19.9%).
Top scripts are 1. jQuery (692,981 sites); 2. jQuery UI (193,680 sites); 3. Facebook SDK (175,369 sites); 4. Twitter Bootstrap JS (158,288 sites); 5. Modernizr (155,503 sites).
querySelector/querySelectorAll into main Web browsers.Team: Timmy Willison (jQuery Core Lead), Richard Gibson (Sizzle Lead, jQuery Core).
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