All Selector (“*”)

Categories: Selectors > Basic

all selector

Description: Selects all elements.

  • version added: 1.0jQuery( "*" )

Caution: The all, or universal, selector is extremely slow, except when used by itself.

Examples:

Example 1

Find every element (including head, body, etc) in the document. Note that if your browser has an extension/add-on enabled that inserts a <script> or <link> element into the DOM, that element will be counted as well.

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<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
 <meta charset="utf-8">
 <title>all demo</title>
 <style>
 h3 {
 margin: 0;
 }
 div, span, p {
 width: 80px;
 height: 40px;
 float: left;
 padding: 10px;
 margin: 10px;
 background-color: #EEEEEE;
 }
 </style>
 <script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.7.1.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
 
<div>DIV</div>
<span>SPAN</span>
<p>P <button>Button</button></p>
 
<script>
var elementCount = $( "*" ).css( "border", "3px solid red" ).length;
$( "body" ).prepend( "<h3>" + elementCount + " elements found</h3>" );
</script>
 
</body>
</html>

Demo:

Example 2

Find all elements within document.body so elements like head, script, etc. are excluded.

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<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
 <meta charset="utf-8">
 <title>all demo</title>
 <style>
 h3 {
 margin: 0;
 }
 div, span, p {
 width: 80px;
 height: 40px;
 float: left;
 padding: 10px;
 margin: 10px;
 background-color: #EEEEEE;
 }
 #test {
 width: auto;
 height: auto;
 background-color: transparent;
 }
 </style>
 <script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.7.1.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
 
<div id="test">
 <div>DIV</div>
 <span>SPAN</span>
 <p>P <button>Button</button></p>
</div>
 
<script>
var elementCount = $( "#test" ).find( "*" ).css( "border", "3px solid red" ).length;
$( "body" ).prepend( "<h3>" + elementCount + " elements found</h3>" );
</script>
 
</body>
</html>

Demo: