.clone() usage in jQuery

Question

Please take a look at the following code. I am going through it and wondering what does .clone() do here in the context of my code.

The jQuery documentation says that "The .clone() method performs a deep copy of the set of matched elements, meaning that it copies the matched elements as well as all of their descendant elements and text nodes."

var x = 0;

functionPick()
{               
    var $loading = $('<img src="../images/loading-small.gif" wth="16" height="16">...Preparing');

    var y = '';

    y = '?ID=' + encodeURIComponent(<cfoutput>#ID#</cfoutput>);


    if(x != 0)
    {

        x.remove();
        x = 0;

    }

    x = $('<div></div>').append($loading.clone());


Please explain.

It looks like your question answers itself. Do you think it does something different from the description you quoted in the context of your code? Why? — Dagg Nabbit, Dec 23 '13 at 18:21
If you're wondering what exactly a deep copy is, read this answer: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/184710/what-is-the-difference-between-a-deep-copy-and-a-shallow-copy — StackExchange What The Heck, Dec 23 '13 at 18:22
You can safely remove call to "clone". It essentially does nothing useful in this context. — akhikhl, Dec 23 '13 at 18:24

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 23 '13 at 18:21

1

It does nothing useful in that code. It makes a copy of the elements (and nodes) in the jQuery set, but in your case, there's no reason to, as they'll be created afresh each time the function is called.

answered Dec 23 '13 at 18:21

T.J. Crowder

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score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Your code is incomplete dont exactly know what you doing with x, but for your help.

Clone()

Create a deep copy of the set of matched elements.

so if you:

<div class="container">
<div class="hello">Hello</div>
<div class="goodbye">
Goodbye
<div class="hello">Hello</div>
</div>
</div>

and running this code:

$( ".hello" ).clone().appendTo( ".goodbye" );

result would be:

<div class="container">
<div class="goodbye">
Goodbye
<div class="hello">Hello</div>
</div>
</div>

.clone() usage in jQuery

2 Answers2

Clone()