Basic Selectors

Basic Selectors: free step-by-step lesson with examples, common mistakes, and interview tips — part of jQuery Tutorial on Toolliyo Academy.

8 min read Updated 8/22/2026

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jQuery Tutorial · Lesson 5 of 100

Basic Selectors

Setup & DOM → Events Effects AJAX → Perf & Integrate → Ship & Projects

Setup & DOM · 1 — Select · ~6 min · Setup and Selectors

What is this?

jQuery accepts CSS-like selectors: $("#id"), $(".class"), $("tag"), and combinations like $("#list .item"). The result is a collection you can chain.

Why should you care?

Almost every QueryVerse action starts by finding the right nodes — wrong selectors silently match nothing.

See it live — copy this example

Examples include the jQuery 3.7 CDN. Paste into an HTML file or use Run Example to preview.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>QueryVerse</title>
  <style>
    body { font-family: system-ui, sans-serif; margin: 1.25rem; }
    .box { padding: .75rem; border: 1px solid #ccc; border-radius: 8px; margin: .5rem 0; }
    .muted { color: #666; }
    button { margin-right: .35rem; margin-top: .35rem; }
    input, select, textarea { margin: .25rem 0; }
    table { border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; }
    th, td { border: 1px solid #ddd; padding: .4rem .55rem; text-align: left; }
    .hidden { display: none; }
    .row-odd { background: #f7f7f7; }
    .active { font-weight: 700; }
    .toast { background: #111; color: #fff; padding: .5rem .75rem; border-radius: 6px; }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <ul id="list">
    <li class="item">Alpha</li>
    <li class="item active">Beta</li>
    <li class="item">Gamma</li>
  </ul>
  <p id="out" class="muted"></p>
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.7.1.min.js"></script>
<script>
$(function () {
  var n = $('#list .item').length;
  var active = $('li.active').text();
  $('#out').text(n + ' items; active=' + active);
});
</script>
</body>
</html>

Run Example »

Edit the code below and click Run to see the result in Toolliyo’s live editor.

Code

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>QueryVerse</title>
  <style>
    body { font-family: system-ui, sans-serif; margin: 1.25rem; }
    .box { padding: .75rem; border: 1px solid #ccc; border-radius: 8px; margin: .5rem 0; }
    .muted { color: #666; }
    button { margin-right: .35rem; margin-top: .35rem; }
    input, select, textarea { margin: .25rem 0; }
    table { border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; }
    th, td { border: 1px solid #ddd; padding: .4rem .55rem; text-align: left; }
    .hidden { display: none; }
    .row-odd { background: #f7f7f7; }
    .active { font-weight: 700; }
    .toast { background: #111; color: #fff; padding: .5rem .75rem; border-radius: 6px; }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <ul id="list">
    <li class="item">Alpha</li>
    <li class="item active">Beta</li>
    <li class="item">Gamma</li>
  </ul>
  <p id="out" class="muted"></p>
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.7.1.min.js"></script>
<script>
$(function () {
  var n = $('#list .item').length;
  var active = $('li.active').text();
  $('#out').text(n + ' items; active=' + active);
});
</script>
</body>
</html>

Result