How to find an element with a data attribute with unknown value?

Question

I'm looking for a specific element which contain a known data attribute. The actual value of the data could be anything. Example:

<div id="myObject">
   <div>
     <span data-some-data="anything">something</span>
   </div>
<div>

I'm trying to access the span tag in the above example.

I've tried something like:

var $theElementINeed =  $('#myObject').find("[data-some-data='" + ??? + "']");

But the value could be anything. So I don't know how to find the span. Any suggestions?

possible duplicate of [How do I target elements with an attribute that has any value in CSS?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9271424/how-do-i-target-elements-with-an-attribute-that-has-any-value-in-css) — Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com, Feb 04 '14 at 21:51

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 17 '14 at 00:13

3

If you just want to check for the existence of the attribute then use the has attribute selector

var $theElementINeed =  $('#myObject').find("[data-some-data]");

answered Jan 17 '14 at 00:13

Arun P Johny

how is find() better than just $('#myObject [data-some-data]") ? i don't understand why it's broken up into two selectors... – dandavis Jan 17 '14 at 00:45

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:07

0

Per this! discussion, try:$('element').find('[data-some-data]');

edited May 23 '17 at 12:07

Community

answered Jan 17 '14 at 00:15

Matthew Booth

2 Answers2