Check if a div exists with jquery

Rafael Herscovici picture Rafael Herscovici · Aug 1, 2011 · Viewed 338.2k times · Source

Yes, I know this has been asked a lot. But, it confuses me, since the results on google for this search show different methods (listed below)

$(document).ready(function() {
    if ($('#DivID').length){
        alert('Found with Length');
    }

    if ($('#DivID').length > 0 ) {
        alert('Found with Length bigger then Zero');
    }

    if ($('#DivID') != null ) {
        alert('Found with Not Null');
    }
});

Which one of the 3 is the correct way to check if the div exists?

EDIT: It's a pitty to see that people do not want to learn what is the better approach from the three different methods. This question is not actually on "How to check if a div exists" but it's about which method is better, and, if someone could explain, why it it better?

Answer

karim79 picture karim79 · Aug 1, 2011

The first is the most concise, I would go with that. The first two are the same, but the first is just that little bit shorter, so you'll save on bytes. The third is plain wrong, because that condition will always evaluate true because the object will never be null or falsy for that matter.