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JavaScript jQuery Basics (2014) Creating a Simple Drawing Application Perform: Part 3

Posted by Ronando Long
Ronando Long
929 Points

Why does the variable have a jQuery $ in front of it? var $newColor = $("<li></li>");

I'm used to seeing variables without the JQ $, like 

var input = ("blah blah").append();

But this variable has the JQ $ prefixed to it. What gives? How do we know when to go either way?

2 Answers

Steve McKinney
Steve McKinney
29,274 Points

The $ in front of the variable, in this case, is just a practice that many people use when writing jQuery. It's to show that this is a jQuery object. Its up to you if you follow this practice, it doesn't affect the output of code in any way.

var $element = $('.element');
var element = $('.element');

Aside from the variable name both of these would produce the same result.

jason chan
jason chan
31,009 Points
jason chan
jason chan
31,009 Points 
// you can store variables like this it's called caching
var input = $(".selector").append();
input.removeClass("red");

$ is just a shortcut for jQuery. The idea is that everything is done with the one global symbol (since the global namespaces is ridiculously crowded), jQuery, but you can use $ (because it's shorter) if you like:

You will see when you get longer in your journey in programming. It has to do with scope.