Getting the selected text from a select list using jQuery selector

Question

I'm trying to get the selected text from a dropdown using a selector. If I reference the dropdown directly by name it works:

$('#aBigLongASP.NETWebformsGeneratedName_ddl_StateOfOption :selected').text()

I am however trying to use a selector to select the dropdown using only the last part of the name:

$('#select[id$='ddl_StateOfOption']) :selected).text();

but I can't quite seem to get it to work. The Chrome developer tool throws the following error:

SyntaxError: Unexpected identifier

Can anyone point out where the error is?

The Stack Overflow syntax highlighter should have already pointed out one of the errors. You're nesting single quotes. Replace one set with double quotes. — James Allardice
– James Allardice, Commented Jul 26, 2012 at 12:52
Also get rid of the random closing parenthesis after the closing square bracket. — James Allardice
– James Allardice, Commented Jul 26, 2012 at 12:54

nnnnnn · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-26 12:58:12Z

5

Try this:

$('select[id$="ddl_StateOfOption"] :selected').text();

There were several problems with your code:

// $('#select[id$='ddl_StateOfOption']) :selected).text();
//    ^           ^                 ^ ^          ^
//    |           |                 | |           \
//    |           |                 |  \            missing closing '
//    |           \                 /   shouldn't have )
//    \            should be " not '
//     You were selecting elements with id "select" rather than tag "select"

edited Jul 26, 2012 at 12:58

answered Jul 26, 2012 at 12:52

nnnnnn

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1 Comment

Simon Over a year ago

Brilliant, its good to see what was wrong rather than just copy and paste the solution. I'd accept it again if I could!

SenthilKumarM · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-26 13:19:31Z

0

$("#select[id$='ddl_StateOfOption'] :selected").text();

try this one.

edited Jul 26, 2012 at 13:19

answered Jul 26, 2012 at 12:54

SenthilKumarM

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1 Comment

Simon Over a year ago

Thanks, this also give an error - "unrecognized expression". @nnnnnn answer works.

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