Get drop down value

Question

How to determine what is selected in the drop down? In Javascript.

possible duplicate of [how to get selected value of dropdownlist using javascript?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1085801/how-to-get-selected-value-of-dropdownlist-using-javascript) — Crescent Fresh, Oct 27 '10 at 02:07
It's usually quite helpful if you include some code in your questions — kurdtpage, Jan 09 '17 at 00:13

score 35 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 27 '10 at 01:24

35

If your dropdown is something like this:

<select id="thedropdown">
  <option value="1">one</option>
  <option value="2">two</option>
</select>

Then you would use something like:

var a = document.getElementById("thedropdown");
alert(a.options[a.selectedIndex].value);

But a library like jQuery simplifies things:

alert($('#thedropdown').val());

answered Oct 27 '10 at 01:24

cambraca

1

I'm digging deep in my memory here, but I think `a.value` didn't work in some browsers (probably IE 6, haha). Anyway, using a library is best. – cambraca Oct 27 '10 at 01:43
2

It works on all browsers that I know of, including IE6. (just tested) – casablanca Oct 27 '10 at 02:13
1

It happened in very old browsers like Netscape Navigator 4. [Look](http://bytes.com/topic/javascript/answers/90872-how-get-selected-value-select-using-dom) – cambraca Oct 27 '10 at 02:33

score 7 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 27 '10 at 01:26

7

Use the value property of the <select> element. For example:

var value = document.getElementById('your_select_id').value;
alert(value);

answered Oct 27 '10 at 01:26

casablanca

score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 27 '10 at 01:41

6

<select onchange = "selectChanged(this.value)">
  <item value = "1">one</item>
  <item value = "2">two</item>
</select>

and then the javascript...

function selectChanged(newvalue) {
  alert("you chose: " + newvalue);
}

answered Oct 27 '10 at 01:41

Thomas F.

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 27 '10 at 01:24

1

var dd = document.getElementById("dropdownID");
var selectedItem = dd.options[dd.selectedIndex].value;

answered Oct 27 '10 at 01:24

Soufiane Hassou

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 27 '10 at 01:24

0

Like this:

$dd = document.getElementById("yourselectelementid");
$so = $dd.options[$dd.selectedIndex];

answered Oct 27 '10 at 01:24

Pablo Santa Cruz

5 Answers5