Posted in: Using jQuery Core > Frequently Asked Questions

How do I select elements when I already have a DOM element?

If you have a variable containing a DOM element, and want to select elements related to that DOM element, simply wrap it in a jQuery object.

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var myDomElement = document.getElementById( "foo" ); // A plain DOM element.
 
$( myDomElement ).find( "a" ); // Finds all anchors inside the DOM element.

Many people try to concatenate a DOM element or jQuery object with a CSS selector, like so:

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$( myDomElement + ".bar" ); // This is equivalent to $( "[object HTMLElement].bar" );

Unfortunately, you cannot concatenate strings to objects.