[javascript] What does jQuery.fn mean?

What does the fn here mean?

jQuery.fn.jquery

fn literally refers to the jquery prototype.

This line of code is in the source code:

jQuery.fn = jQuery.prototype = {
 //list of functions available to the jQuery api
}

But the real tool behind fn is its availability to hook your own functionality into jQuery. Remember that jquery will be the parent scope to your function, so this will refer to the jquery object.

$.fn.myExtension = function(){
 var currentjQueryObject = this;
 //work with currentObject
 return this;//you can include this if you would like to support chaining
};

So here is a simple example of that. Lets say I want to make two extensions, one which puts a blue border, and which colors the text blue, and I want them chained.

jsFiddle Demo

$.fn.blueBorder = function(){
 this.each(function(){
  $(this).css("border","solid blue 2px");
 });
 return this;
};
$.fn.blueText = function(){
 this.each(function(){
  $(this).css("color","blue");
 });
 return this;
};

Now you can use those against a class like this:

$('.blue').blueBorder().blueText();

(I know this is best done with css such as applying different class names, but please keep in mind this is just a demo to show the concept)

This answer has a good example of a full fledged extension.

In the jQuery source code we have jQuery.fn = jQuery.prototype = {...} since jQuery.prototype is an object the value of jQuery.fn will simply be a reference to the same object that jQuery.prototype already references.

To confirm this you can check jQuery.fn === jQuery.prototype if that evaluates true (which it does) then they reference the same object

jQuery.fn is defined shorthand for jQuery.prototype. From the source code:

jQuery.fn = jQuery.prototype = {
    // ...
}

That means jQuery.fn.jquery is an alias for jQuery.prototype.jquery, which returns the current jQuery version. Again from the source code:

// The current version of jQuery being used
jquery: "@VERSION",