Preselecting option in multiselect using val()

Question

How do you preselect an option in a multiple select html tag using jquery\'s val()?

What I mean by this is that say you have a multiselect component and you want some o

Answer 1

Assuming I've understood your question correctly, you can pass an array of values to the .val() method:

$("#yourSelect").val(["value1", "value2"]);

Here's a working example.

Answer 2

You can do it like this:

HTML:

<select multiple="multiple">
  <option value="volvo">Volvo</option>
  <option value="saab">Saab</option>
  <option value="mercedes">Mercedes</option>
  <option value="audi">Audi</option>
</select>​

jQuery:

$("select").val(["volvo", "mercedes"]).prop("selected", true);

Here's a fiddle with the example: http://jsfiddle.net/HCm3e/