jQuery selector for links with # in href attribute

Question

I tried to use this jQuery selector:

$("a:has(href*=#)").click(function() {
     alert('works');
});

but it doesn't seem to work. I would like to select all tags which have anchor in href attribute (has # symbol there)

score 70 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 30 '11 at 19:20

70

$("a[href*=#]").click(function(e) {
    e.preventDefault();
    alert('works');
});

answered Dec 30 '11 at 19:20

epignosisx

I believe @simPod is trying to select cases of `` rather than `` – Korvin Szanto Dec 30 '11 at 19:28
@KorvinSzanto if that's the case then your answer is correct. – epignosisx Dec 30 '11 at 19:31
2

From @simPod's clarification, we were both wrong! He wants [http://api.jquery.com/attribute-starts-with-selector/](http://api.jquery.com/attribute-starts-with-selector/) – Korvin Szanto Dec 30 '11 at 19:32
quotes! I had missing quotes there! – simPod Dec 30 '11 at 19:43
Needs single quotes in selector - $("a[href*='#']") – Rauli Rajande Feb 08 '16 at 17:10
Hi @epignosisx. I think selector `a[href*=#]` is not working in latest jQuery. – maheshwaghmare Apr 13 '16 at 12:55
9

It doesn't work in some situations. You should escape the `#` like this: `$('a[href*=\\#]')` if you want it to be more reliable. http://stackoverflow.com/a/18365991/553921 – lurkit Dec 01 '16 at 16:52

score 51 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 30 '11 at 19:21

51

*= will filter attributes that contain the given string anywhere

$("a[href*='#']").click(function() {
    alert('works');
});

Also note that

$("a[href^='#']").click(function() {
    alert('works');
});

will select any anchor whose href starts with a #

answered Dec 30 '11 at 19:21

Adam Rackis

You were the only one who added the attribute starts with selector, which happened to be what he was truly asking for =D gj – Korvin Szanto Dec 30 '11 at 19:33
I thought my question is clear but it is more sophisticated than it seemed :D – simPod Dec 30 '11 at 19:48
Hehe - often times jQuery has solutions simpler than you thought possible :) – Adam Rackis Dec 30 '11 at 19:49
Thanks for the `^=` selector, that's the one I was trying to find! – calvinf Apr 02 '14 at 23:37

Korvin Szanto · Answer 3 · 2014-11-05T19:57:58.333

19

You've got to select using the attribute starts with selector:

$('a[href^="#"]').click(function(){
    alert('Works!');
});

edited Nov 05 '14 at 19:57

answered Dec 30 '11 at 19:21

Korvin Szanto

[`attribute-contains` selector](http://api.jquery.com/attribute-contains-selector/), as the `href` attribute is *not* 'equal' to `#`. Also, the API states, clearly, that the value being assessed ***must*** be quoted. – David Thomas Dec 30 '11 at 19:22
@DavidThomas, He's trying to select cases of `` not something like ``. Also, thanks for pointing out the quoting =D. – Korvin Szanto Dec 30 '11 at 19:24
actually, I need to select `#header` and the way I thought up was select all `` with `#` in `href` – simPod Dec 30 '11 at 19:27
1

In that case, you'll want `$('a[href=^"#"]')` to prevent selecting hrefs like `http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random#A_number_is_.22due.22` Updated my answer! – Korvin Szanto Dec 30 '11 at 19:30
@KorvinSzanto you're fiddle is working but the code here has a little typo, the `^` sign should be before equal sign – chodorowicz Nov 05 '14 at 08:20

3 Answers3