JS - Difference between $("#elementid") vs document.getElementById?

Question

What are the differences, if any, between $("#elementID") vs document.getElementById("elementID")?
Can they both do the same things?

What are these things called? Objects?
i.e.
if I have x = $("#elementID"), what is x?
if I have y = document.getElementById("elementID"), what is y?

hmm that question didnt show up in my searches. thanks for the reference — agent provocateur, Jan 14 '16 at 00:56

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 14 '16 at 00:51

3

document.getElementById("elementID") is a call of the DOM function exposed by JavaScript for obtaining a reference to an element in your DOM.

$("#elementID") is a function call to the jQuery JavaScript library that does much the same thing, though the result is a jQuery object encapsulating said DOM element. I'm not going to go into detail about what that means: you can read the jQuery documentation to find out all about that.

answered Jan 14 '16 at 00:51

Lightness Races in Orbit

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this is true, $("#elementID") is a function that jquery created while document.getElementById("elementID") is a DOM function of javascript – Jrey Jan 14 '16 at 00:53
@JohnReyM.Baylen: `$` is a function. `$("#elementID")` is a function call expression. – Lightness Races in Orbit Jan 14 '16 at 00:53

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 14 '16 at 00:55

1

$("#elementID") is a JQuery method that requires you to include JQuery.js on your page and the other is a native browser method.

Using $("#elementID") you can use JQuery to manipulate it. document.getElementById gives you the DOM element

edited Jan 14 '16 at 00:55

Josh Crozier

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answered Jan 14 '16 at 00:52

Ajwhiteway

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JS - Difference between $("#elementid") vs document.getElementById?

2 Answers2