How to search for class that has dot in its name?

Question

I have an element with class "4.0.3" how can I search for it?

ff 12.x & latest chrome returns nothing for

console.log($('.4\.0\.3').length);
console.log($(".4.0.3").length);

On the other hand .hasClass() correctly returns if the element got a class that contains .

Since ``\`` is the escape character in strings as well, `'5\.4'` results in the string `5.4`. Try: `console.log('5\.4')`. So, `'5\.4'` and `'5.4'` create the same string value. — Felix Kling, Jun 28 '12 at 00:54
Yes, you have to escape the escape character to create a literal backslash. — Felix Kling, Jun 28 '12 at 01:43

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 28 '12 at 00:50

7

Escape it with double back-slash

$('.4\\.0\\.3')

http://api.jquery.com/category/selectors/

If you wish to use any of the meta-characters ( such as !"#$%&'()*+,./:;<=>?@[]^`{|}~ ) as a literal part of a name, you must escape the character with two backslashes: \\

answered Jun 28 '12 at 00:50

zerkms

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@zerkms - RE: your deleted comment, RE: my deleted answer... but the dot character (`.`) is `U+002E`, which is, of course, less than `U+00A0`. So, not allowed, right? I mean, I see that [in practice it works... sort of](http://jsfiddle.net/VcWfb/), but it shouldn't according to CSS naming rules, right? Or am I missing something? – gilly3 Jun 28 '12 at 01:07
@gilly3: Yep, In some unknown reason I've read `A0` as `0A` :-S So you aren't missing something, I just need glasses :-) – zerkms Jun 28 '12 at 01:13
I can get dots to work, but I can't get a class name starting with a number to work without the help of jQuery. `document.querySelectorAll(".1")` throws a syntax error. jQuery must be circumventing `document.querySelectorAll()` in this case. – gilly3 Jun 28 '12 at 01:17
@gilly3: jQuery does try `document.querySelectorAll()`. When it receives an exception, then it'll fall back to Sizzle automatically. – BoltClock Jun 28 '12 at 01:27

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 28 '12 at 00:51

2

As zerkms suggests, you can escape it but you need double backslashes:

$('.4\\.0\\.3')

Or for a less hacky solution, use an attribute selector instead:

$('[class~="4.0.3"]')

answered Jun 28 '12 at 00:51

BoltClock

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How to search for class that has dot in its name?

2 Answers2