# .next()

Categories: Traversing > Tree Traversal

## .next( [selector] ) Returns: jQuery

Description: Get the immediately following sibling of each element in the set of matched elements. If a selector is provided, it retrieves the next sibling only if it matches that selector.

- #### version added: 1.0.next( [selector] )

  selectorA string containing a selector expression to match elements against.

Given a jQuery object that represents a set of DOM elements, the `.next()` method allows us to search through the immediately following sibling of these elements in the DOM tree and construct a new jQuery object from the matching elements.

The method optionally accepts a selector expression of the same type that we can pass to the `$()` function. If the immediately following sibling matches the selector, it remains in the newly constructed jQuery object; otherwise, it is excluded.

Consider a page with a simple list on it:

    <ul>
       <li>list item 1</li>
       <li>list item 2</li>
       <li class="third-item">list item 3</li>
       <li>list item 4</li>
       <li>list item 5</li>
    </ul>

If we begin at the third item, we can find the element which comes just after it:

    $('li.third-item').next().css('background-color', 'red');

The result of this call is a red background behind item 4. Since we do not supply a selector expression, this following element is unequivocally included as part of the object. If we had supplied one, the element would be tested for a match before it was included.

### Examples:

#### Example: Find the very next sibling of each disabled button and change its text "this button is disabled".

    <!DOCTYPE html>
    <html>
    <head>
      <style>

      span { color:blue; font-weight:bold; }
      button { width:100px; }
      </style>
      <script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.7rc2.js"></script>
    </head>
    <body>
      <div><button disabled="disabled">First</button> - <span></span></div>
      <div><button>Second</button> - <span></span></div>

      <div><button disabled="disabled">Third</button> - <span></span></div>
    <script>$("button[disabled]").next().text("this button is disabled");</script>

    </body>
    </html>

#### Demo:

#### Example: Find the very next sibling of each paragraph. Keep only the ones with a class "selected".

    <!DOCTYPE html>
    <html>
    <head>
      <script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.7rc2.js"></script>
    </head>
    <body>
      <p>Hello</p>

      <p class="selected">Hello Again</p>
      <div><span>And Again</span></div>
    <script>$("p").next(".selected").css("background", "yellow");</script>

    </body>
    </html>

#### Demo: