How to get selected option value of dropdown using jquery?

Question

I am using dropdown and I want to get value of selected option.

I am able to do that using jquery html() method.

But in case selected option value is containing html encodable character lets say it is &(ampersand.)

alert('html() : ' + $('#dropdown option:selected').html());

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.11.0/jquery.min.js"></script>
<select id="dropdown">
<option selected>Test & Get knowledge</option>
</select>

Then this & is encoded to &a m p;

How to treat this value as only text?

You can use, .text() in that case.

Sahil
– Sahil

2015-12-22 11:28:19 +00:00
Commented Dec 22, 2015 at 11:28 — Sahil
– Sahil, Commented Dec 22, 2015 at 11:28

V.J. · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-22 10:56:02Z

3

https://jsfiddle.net/programtheweba/8gohx47g/

By using Jquery text(), we will get only text and characters are not encoded.

alert('text() : ' +$('#dropdown').text());

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.11.0/jquery.min.js"></script>
<select id="dropdown">
<option selected>Test & Get knowledge</option>
</select>

answered Dec 22, 2015 at 10:56

V.J.

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2 Comments

Anoop Joshi P Over a year ago

Really? You the one who asked the question. Even though there are multiple right answers, only your answer has got the upvote. Really great!!

V.J. Over a year ago

I cant upvote my que/ans. so yes I am also surprised!

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 11:51:59Z

1

& is a special character in HTML (it's used for entities) and cannot appear as a normal character.
Your HTML is invalid (&x is not an entity), but the browser automatically corrects it to & as it is parsed.
jQuery faithfully returns the fixed-up HTML when you ask it to.

Source

Hence use .text() instead of .html():

$('#dropdown option:selected').text();

You can also use .val() along with select element selector to get selected options text value:

 $('#dropdown').val();

edited May 23, 2017 at 11:51

CommunityBot

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answered Dec 22, 2015 at 10:55

Milind Anantwar

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3 Comments

Anoop Joshi P Over a year ago

Hey man. did you see OP's answer? Something is messing up here.

Milind Anantwar Over a year ago

@AnoopJoshi: what is messing up??

Milind Anantwar Over a year ago

@AnoopJoshi: we cant do anything other than flagging it for moderation :)

Alex Char · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-22 10:55:46Z

0

You can use jquery .text() instead:

console.log('text() : ' + $('#dropdown option:selected').text());//prints out text() : Test & Get knowledge

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<select id="dropdown">
  <option selected>Test & Get knowledge</option>
</select>

answered Dec 22, 2015 at 10:55

Alex Char

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Comments

Praveen Kumar Purushothaman · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-22 10:56:07Z

0

You need to use .text() instead of .html():

$('#dropdown option:selected').text();

Or use .val()

$('#dropdown').val();

answered Dec 22, 2015 at 10:56

Praveen Kumar Purushothaman

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Comments

void · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-22 10:57:13Z

0

Include jQuery in your code.
Wrap your code in DOM Ready $(function(){ ... })
Use $('#dropdown option:selected').val() to fetch the value.

$(function(){
alert('html() : ' + $('#dropdown option:selected').val());
});

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<select id="dropdown">
<option selected>Test & Get knowledge</option>
</select>

& will be parsed as & only and will not be changed.

answered Dec 22, 2015 at 10:57

void

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