What is the meaning of symbol $ in jQuery?

Question

What does the $ sign in jQuery stand for?

you could make the title a wee bit more descriptive, instead of just looking like a couple of category tags — Michael Paulukonis
– Michael Paulukonis, Commented Jun 26, 2009 at 18:23
it's a fine question for jquery noobs such as myself. I cobbled together some jquery pages by cutting and pasting from the internet, and it was the first question I had about what I was doing. — Mark Harrison
– Mark Harrison, Commented Jun 27, 2009 at 3:40

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-26 12:47:58Z

145

The jQuery object :)

From the jQuery documentation:

By default, jQuery uses "$" as a shortcut for "jQuery"

So, using $("#id") or jQuery("#id") is the same.

edited Mar 26, 2015 at 12:47

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jun 26, 2009 at 13:25

Andrea

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2 Comments

Hulk Over a year ago

Hi, @Andrea i don't know whether i'm asking correct question or not, i'm new to jQuery. Can we replace that $ with any other symbol? and if possible, how?

super cool Over a year ago

@Hulk you can use noConflit() to replace it .

Afriza N. Arief · Accepted Answer · 2020-05-08 02:25:08Z

Strange but true, you can use "$" as a function name in JavaScript. It is shorthand for jQuery(). Which you can use if you want. jQuery can be ran in compatibility mode if another library is using the $ already. Just use jQuery.noConflict(). $ is pretty commonly used as a selector function in JS.

In jQuery the $ function does much more than select things though.

You can pass it a selector to get a collection of matching elements from the DOM.
You can pass it a function to run when the document is ready (similar to body.onload() but better).
You can pass it a string of HTML to turn into a DOM element which you can then inject into the document.
You can pass it a DOM element or elements that you want to wrap with the jQuery object.

Here is the documentation: https://api.jquery.com/jQuery/

You know, this REALLY should be the right answer for this question... I can't believe all those joke-y answers got all the up-votes.
Agree with reedvoid's comments. It is a reflection on the state of affairs in Javascript programming. That said, the more precise link now that answers the question is api.jquery.com/jQuery
If $ is a function, then how are we calling the method noConflict() on it? That would have been possible if $ was an object, not function.
@dk49 In JavaScript, functions can have properties too. Try this: function Person() {}; Person.city = 'Missoula'; console.log(Person.city)
For more evidence try typeof $ which will ouput "Function". ;)

Elzo Valugi · Accepted Answer · 2018-04-03 09:58:19Z

34

It is syntactic sugar. It is not specific only to jQuery; other libraries use it as well. You can look for a full-details article about the use of dollar sign in JavaScript here.

edited Apr 3, 2018 at 9:58

answered Jul 9, 2009 at 17:16

Elzo Valugi

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5 Comments

Ravi Dhoriya ツ Over a year ago

Well, I liked the term syntactic sugar. Thank for that :)

lorenzog Over a year ago

How is this an answer? From this I learned that the '$' sign in jQuery stands for "syntactic sugar". And the linked article talks at length about the hows and the why, without answering it concisely. The next answer by @andrea does the job in three words.

Elzo Valugi Over a year ago

I think the OP wanted to know why is that $ symbol chosen to represent the library, not on what really means, which is kinda obvious and documented

user734028 Over a year ago

that link doesnt work anymore, the one that you said explains in detail $

Elzo Valugi Over a year ago

@user734028 I changed the link to a cached one, please check now

Daniel Moura · Accepted Answer · 2009-06-26 18:15:44Z

As said in other answers $ is a shortcut to the jQuery function.

Some JavaScript libraries uses $ too (example: prototype). To avoid conflict with those other libraries jQuery provides jQuery.noConflict() function. Calling this function the control of the $ variable goes back to the other library that first implemented it. Doing this to use jQuery you can't do this $('div.someClass') anymore, instead jQuery('div.someClass').

Alternatively can do this:

jQuery.noConflict(); jQuery.ready(function($) { // use $ for jQuery } //use $ for the other library

When writing plugins to avoid problems with the usage of noConflict you can pass 'jQuery' to a function:

function($) { //use $ writing your plugin }(jQuery)

googletorp · Accepted Answer · 2009-06-26 13:29:22Z

$ is simply a function called jQuery. It is how you access all of the functionality in the jQuery lib.

You can find it here: http://docs.jquery.com/%24

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-26 12:48:18Z

7

It's short for jQuery. The object where all the jQuery functionality live.

edited Mar 26, 2015 at 12:48

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jun 26, 2009 at 13:25

Brian

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Comments

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-26 12:49:27Z

The $ is syntactic sugar like @Elzo mentioned. Nobody actually answered your question though. The $ is shorthand in jQuery for window.jQuery, so you don't have to type it every single time.

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-26 12:49:08Z

4

$ is just another variable. In the case of jQuery this references the function jQuery.

edited Mar 26, 2015 at 12:49

Peter Mortensen

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answered May 23, 2013 at 3:29

James Z.

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Comments

Onic Team · Accepted Answer · 2016-12-27 21:32:40Z

4

A $ sign to define/access jQuery

answered Dec 27, 2016 at 21:32

Onic Team

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Comments

void · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-12 10:54:27Z

$ sign to define/access jQuery $(selector).action()

http://www.w3schools.com/jquery/jquery_syntax.asp

Sangkun Park · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-17 16:56:48Z

Look at the jQuery library file.

//Expose jQuery and $ identifiers.

if ( typeof noGlobal === strundefined ) { window.jQuery = window.$ = jQuery; }

Global $ points to jQuery.

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