check if cached jquery object is still in DOM

Question

Does anyone know how to tell if a cached jQuery object has gone stale, e.g. is no longer in the DOM? For example:

var $cached_elem = $(\'.the_button\');

//         


        

Answer 1

If the selector hasn't changed, just reinitialize it:

var $cached_elem = $('.the_button');
// code that might remove some elements of $cached_elem
$cached_elem = $('.the_button');

If you want to avoid duplicating the selector string, use the selector property of the original jQuery object:

var $cached_elem = $('.the_button');
// code that might remove some elements of $cached_elem
$cached_elem = $($cached_elem.selector);
if ($cached_elem.length) {
  // element still exists
}