Get all attributes of an element using jQuery

Question

I am trying to go through an element and get all the attributes of that element to output them, for example an tag may have 3 or more attributes, unknown to me and I need to get the names and values of these attributes. I was thinking something along the lines of:

$(this).attr().each(function(index, element) {
    var name = $(this).name;
    var value = $(this).value;
    //Do something with name and value...
});

Could anyone tell me if this is even possible, and if so what the correct syntax would be?

Answer 1

The attributes property contains them all:

$(this).each(function() {
  $.each(this.attributes, function() {
    // this.attributes is not a plain object, but an array
    // of attribute nodes, which contain both the name and value
    if(this.specified) {
      console.log(this.name, this.value);
    }
  });
});

---

What you can also do is extending .attr so that you can call it like .attr() to get a plain object of all attributes:

(function(old) {
  $.fn.attr = function() {
    if(arguments.length === 0) {
      if(this.length === 0) {
        return null;
      }

      var obj = {};
      $.each(this[0].attributes, function() {
        if(this.specified) {
          obj[this.name] = this.value;
        }
      });
      return obj;
    }

    return old.apply(this, arguments);
  };
})($.fn.attr);

Usage:

var $div = $("<div data-a='1' id='b'>");
$div.attr();  // { "data-a": "1", "id": "b" }

Answer 2

Using javascript function it is easier to get all the attributes of an element in NamedArrayFormat.

$("#myTestDiv").click(function(){
  var attrs = document.getElementById("myTestDiv").attributes;
  $.each(attrs,function(i,elem){
    $("#attrs").html(    $("#attrs").html()+"<br><b>"+elem.name+"</b>:<i>"+elem.value+"</i>");
  });
});

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.11.0/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div id="myTestDiv" ekind="div" etype="text" name="stack">
click This
</div>
<div id="attrs">Attributes are <div>

Answer 3

A debugging script (jquery solution based on the answer above by hashchange)

function getAttributes ( $node ) {
      $.each( $node[0].attributes, function ( index, attribute ) {
      console.log(attribute.name+':'+attribute.value);
   } );
}

getAttributes($(this));  // find out what attributes are available

Answer 4

Simple solution by Underscore.js

For example: Get all links text who's parents have class someClass

_.pluck($('.someClass').find('a'), 'text');

Working fiddle

Answer 5

Here is an overview of the many ways that can be done, for my own reference as well as yours :) The functions return a hash of attribute names and their values.

Vanilla JS:

function getAttributes ( node ) {
    var i,
        attributeNodes = node.attributes,
        length = attributeNodes.length,
        attrs = {};

    for ( i = 0; i < length; i++ ) attrs[attributeNodes[i].name] = attributeNodes[i].value;
    return attrs;
}

Vanilla JS with Array.reduce

Works for browsers supporting ES 5.1 (2011). Requires IE9+, does not work in IE8.

function getAttributes ( node ) {
    var attributeNodeArray = Array.prototype.slice.call( node.attributes );

    return attributeNodeArray.reduce( function ( attrs, attribute ) {
        attrs[attribute.name] = attribute.value;
        return attrs;
    }, {} );
}

jQuery

This function expects a jQuery object, not a DOM element.

function getAttributes ( $node ) {
    var attrs = {};
    $.each( $node[0].attributes, function ( index, attribute ) {
        attrs[attribute.name] = attribute.value;
    } );

    return attrs;
}

Underscore

Also works for lodash.

function getAttributes ( node ) {
    return _.reduce( node.attributes, function ( attrs, attribute ) {
        attrs[attribute.name] = attribute.value;
        return attrs;
    }, {} );
}

lodash

Is even more concise than the Underscore version, but only works for lodash, not for Underscore. Requires IE9+, is buggy in IE8. Kudos to @AlJey for that one.

function getAttributes ( node ) {
    return _.transform( node.attributes, function ( attrs, attribute ) {
        attrs[attribute.name] = attribute.value;
    }, {} );
}

Test page

At JS Bin, there is a live test page covering all these functions. The test includes boolean attributes (hidden) and enumerated attributes (contenteditable="").

Answer 6

with LoDash you could simply do this:

_.transform(this.attributes, function (result, item) {
  item.specified && (result[item.name] = item.value);
}, {});