jQuery .val() returns empty string

Question

It feels like jQuery is messing with me, although it's probably a simple issue. My code get's to the DOM-element that i want to get the value of, but when i add .val() it returns an empty string.

$('tr.invoice td[data-attr=Payed] div.true').closest('tr').find('td[data-attr=Expiration]')
Returns this:
[<td data-attr="Expiration">2012-04-22</td>,<td data-attr="Expiration">2012-05-21</td>,<td data-attr="Expiration">2012-06-18</td>]

As you can see the DOM-elements has values, but if i add .val() to the JS-string it returns empty strings only (not undefined, empty)

VisioN · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-02 19:37:21Z

12

Method val() is used for input and select elements.

You should use html() or text() methods instead.

$('tr.invoice td[data-attr=Payed] div.true')
    .closest('tr')
    .find('td[data-attr=Expiration]')
    .each(function() {
        // getting inner HTML
        var html = $(this).html();
    }
);

answered Jul 2, 2012 at 19:37

VisioN

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Josh · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-02 19:38:16Z

4

.val() is for form elements, not textual values. Use .text() intstead.

Fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/L8V4A/

EDIT: Apologies on the bad link.

answered Jul 2, 2012 at 19:38

Josh

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2 Comments

BZink Over a year ago

not the down-voter but I changed your link description since you said it was a fiddle.

Josh Over a year ago

@BZink: My CMD-C must have missed, apologies, and it's fixed!

Bojangles · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-02 19:37:39Z

3

<td>s don't have values, therefore won't return anything. .val() is only used on form elements like <inputs> and <select> tags. To get the contents of an element, use .html() or .text() instead.

The difference between .html() and .text() is that the former will include the tags in the returned string, while .text() will only return the contents of any tags. With this example HTML:

<div>
    <strong>
        Hello world
        <span>How're you doing?</span>
    </strong>
</div>

$('div').html() gives this string (formatted nicely for clarity):

<strong>
    Hello world
    <span>How're you doing?</span>
</strong>

Whereas $('div').text() would give this:

Hello worldHow're you doing?

answered Jul 2, 2012 at 19:37

Bojangles

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