Programmatically select html select element option

Question

I want to select an option on a html select. For example, a select with:

 <select id="list">
   <option>Jan</option>
   <option>Feb</option>
   <option>Mar</option>
   <option>Apr</option>
 </select>

I can do something like this if I know the value for the option, for example:

 <option value="0">Jan</option>

 $("#list option:eq(0)").attr("selected", "selected");

Can I use the value between the option tag?

option should have value attribute, then simply set select value. And FYI, using recent jQuery version, prop() to set selected property is the preferred method — A. Wolff
– A. Wolff, Commented Feb 3, 2014 at 20:24
If you just have to use the text, you could always do $('#list option:contains(Mar)').prop('selected', true) — adeneo
– adeneo, Commented Feb 3, 2014 at 20:28

Satpal · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-26 07:53:22Z

4

Use .val(value), Here in example I have use Mar to set as value

Set the value of each element in the set of matched elements.

$("#list").val('Mar')

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<select id="list">
    <option>Jan</option>
    <option>Feb</option>
    <option>Mar</option>
    <option>Apr</option>
</select>

edited Sep 26, 2017 at 7:53

answered Feb 3, 2014 at 20:25

Satpal

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Comments

vborutenko · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-03 20:27:01Z

1

Add value

<select id="list">
  <option value="jan">Jan</option>
  <option value="feb">Feb</option>
  <option value="mar">Mar</option>
  <option value="apr">Apr</option>

Then use jquery

$('#list').val( 'jan' );

answered Feb 3, 2014 at 20:27

vborutenko

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