[javascript] How to get a DOM Element from a JQuery Selector

I'm having an impossibly hard time finding out to get the actual DOMElement from a jquery selector. Sample Code:

<input type="checkbox" id="bob" />
  var checkbox = $("#bob").click(function() { //some code  } )

and in another piece of code I'm trying to determine the checked value of the checkbox.

  if ( checkbox.eq(0).SomeMethodToGetARealDomElement().checked )
    //do something.

And please, I do not want to do:

  if ( checkbox.eq(0).is(":checked"))
    //do something

That get's me around the checkbox, but other times I've needed the real DOMElement.

This question is related to javascript jquery dom

The answer is


Edit: seems I was wrong in assuming you could not get the element. As others have posted here, you can get it with:

$('#element').get(0);

I have verified this actually returns the DOM element that was matched.


If you need to interact directly with the DOM element, why not just use document.getElementById since, if you are trying to interact with a specific element you will probably know the id, as assuming that the classname is on only one element or some other option tends to be risky.

But, I tend to agree with the others, that in most cases you should learn to do what you need using what jQuery gives you, as it is very flexible.

UPDATE: Based on a comment: Here is a post with a nice explanation: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg04461.html

$(this).attr("checked") ? $(this).val() : 0

This will return the value if it's checked, or 0 if it's not.

$(this).val() is just reaching into the dom and getting the attribute "value" of the element, whether or not it's checked.


I needed to get the element as a string.

jQuery("#bob").get(0).outerHTML;

Which will give you something like:

<input type="text" id="bob" value="hello world" />

...as a string rather than a DOM element.


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