jQuery

Selecting First Element Of Type Using :first-of-type Selector in jQuery

The :first-of-type selector is another helpful selector in jQuery. It basically selects all elements that are the first among siblings of the same element name. That said, let’s take a look at quick examples on how to use it in real time to select any element that we need.

How To Use the first-of-type Selector in jQuery

Let’s take a look at a quick example. The following is the HTML Source code used in the examples.

<style type="text/css">
#my_div {
	background-color: #DBF0FF;
	border: 1px solid #06F;
}
.new_div {
	background-color: #FFDF9D;
	border: 1px solid #F90;
}
.purple {
	background-color: #9999FF;
	border: 1px solid #90F;
}
table td {
	border: 1px solid #CCC;
}

</style>

<div class="divs_container">

<div id="my_div1">This is My Div 1.</div>

<div id="my_div2">This is My Div 2.</div>

<div id="my_div3">This is My Div 3.</div>

<div id="my_div4" class="new_div">This is My Div 4

<span id="sp1">Span 1</span>

<p id="p1">Para 1</p>

<span id="sp2">Span 2</span>

<p id="p2">Para 2</p>

<p id="p3">Para 3</p>

</div>

<br>

<table width="100%" border="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1">
  <tr>
    <td>&nbsp;</td>
    <td>&nbsp;</td>
    <td>&nbsp;</td>
    <td>&nbsp;</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>&nbsp;</td>
    <td>&nbsp;</td>
    <td>&nbsp;</td>
    <td>&nbsp;</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>&nbsp;</td>
    <td>&nbsp;</td>
    <td>&nbsp;</td>
    <td>&nbsp;</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>&nbsp;</td>
    <td>&nbsp;</td>
    <td>&nbsp;</td>
    <td>&nbsp;</td>
  </tr>
</table>

</div>

<p>	
  <input type="submit" name="sbt_add1" id="sbt_add1" value="Add Class to First Div">

<input type="submit" name="sbt_add2" id="sbt_add2" value="Add Class to First p">

<input type="submit" name="sbt_add2" id="sbt_add3" value="Add Class to First span"><br>

<input type="submit" name="sbt_add3" id="sbt_add4" value="Add Class to First td of Table">

</p>

Example 1: Select first element of type div and adding custom class to it when a button is clicked

	$('#sbt_add1').on("click", function(e){		

		$('.divs_container div:first-of-type').addClass('purple');

		e.preventDefault();

	});

Example 2: Select first element of type p and adding custom class to it when a button is clicked

	$('#sbt_add2').on("click", function(e){			

		$('.divs_container p:first-of-type').addClass('purple');				

		e.preventDefault();

	});

Example 3: Select first element of type span and adding custom class to it when a button is clicked

	$('#sbt_add3').on("click", function(e){			

		$('.divs_container span:first-of-type').addClass('purple');				

		e.preventDefault();

	});

Example 4: Select first element of type td and adding custom class to it when a button is clicked

	$('#sbt_add4').on("click", function(e){		

		$('.divs_container table td:first-of-type').addClass('purple');

		e.preventDefault();

	});
Simple, isn’t it?

Do you know of any other ways to use the :first-of-type selector in jQuery? Feel free to suggest by commenting below.

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