Is there a case insensitive jQuery :contains selec

Question

Is there a case insensitive version of the :contains jQuery selector or should I do the work manually by looping over all elements and comparing their .text() to my string?

Answer 1

As of jQuery 1.3, this method is deprecated. To get this to work it needs to be defined as a function:

jQuery.expr[':'].Contains = function(a,i,m){
    return jQuery(a).text().toUpperCase().indexOf(m[3].toUpperCase())>=0;
};

Answer 2

New a variable I give it name subString and put string you want to search in some elements text. Then using Jquery selector select elements you need like my example $("elementsYouNeed") and filter by .filter(). In the .filter() it will compare each elements in $("elementsYouNeed") with the function.

In the function i using .toLowerCase() for element text also subString that can avoid case sensitive condition and check if there is a subString in it. After that the .filter() method constructs a new jQuery object from a subset of the matching elements.

Now you can get the match elements in matchObjects and do whatever you want.

var subString ="string you want to match".toLowerCase();

var matchObjects = $("elementsYouNeed").filter(function () {return $(this).text().toLowerCase().indexOf(subString) > -1;});

Answer 3

If someone (like me) is interested what do a and m[3] mean in Contains definition.

---

KEY/LEGEND: Params made available by jQuery for use in the selector definitions:

r = jQuery array of elements being scrutinised. (eg: r.length = Number of elements)

i = index of element currently under scrutiny, within array r.

a = element currently under scrutiny. Selector statement must return true to include it in its matched results.

m[2] = nodeName or * that we a looking for (left of colon).

m[3] = param passed into the :selector(param). Typically an index number, as in :nth-of-type(5), or a string, as in :color(blue).

Answer 4

A variation that seems to perform slightly faster and that also allows regular expressions is:

jQuery.extend (
    jQuery.expr[':'].containsCI = function (a, i, m) {
        //-- faster than jQuery(a).text()
        var sText   = (a.textContent || a.innerText || "");     
        var zRegExp = new RegExp (m[3], 'i');
        return zRegExp.test (sText);
    }
);

---

Not only is this case-insensitive, but it allows powerful searches like:

• $("p:containsCI('\\bup\\b')") (Matches "Up" or "up", but not "upper", "wakeup", etc.)
• $("p:containsCI('(?:Red|Blue) state')") (Matches "red state" or "blue state", but not "up state", etc.)
• $("p:containsCI('^\\s*Stocks?')") (Matches "stock" or "stocks", but only at the start of the paragraph (ignoring any leading whitespace).)

Answer 5

What I ended up doing for jQuery 1.2 is :

jQuery.extend(
    jQuery.expr[':'], { 
        Contains : "jQuery(a).text().toUpperCase().indexOf(m[3].toUpperCase())>=0" 
});

This will extend jquery to have a :Contains selector that is case insensitive, the :contains selector remains unchanged.

Edit: For jQuery 1.3 (thanks @user95227) and later you need

jQuery.expr[':'].Contains = function(a,i,m){
     return jQuery(a).text().toUpperCase().indexOf(m[3].toUpperCase())>=0;
};

Edit: Apparently accessing the DOM directly by using

(a.textContent || a.innerText || "") 

instead of

jQuery(a).text()

In the previous expression speeds it up considerably so try at your own risk if speed is an issue. (see @John 's question)

Latest edit: For jQuery 1.8 it should be:

jQuery.expr[":"].Contains = jQuery.expr.createPseudo(function(arg) {
    return function( elem ) {
        return jQuery(elem).text().toUpperCase().indexOf(arg.toUpperCase()) >= 0;
    };
});

Answer 6

In jQuery 1.8 you will need to use

jQuery.expr[":"].icontains = jQuery.expr.createPseudo(function (arg) {                                                                                                                                                                
    return function (elem) {                                                            
        return jQuery(elem).text().toUpperCase().indexOf(arg.toUpperCase()) >= 0;        
    };                                                                                  
});