# .context

Categories: Internals | Properties > Properties of jQuery Object Instances

## context Returns: Element

Description: The DOM node context originally passed to jQuery(); if none was passed then context will likely be the document.

- #### version added: 1.3context

The `.live()` method for binding event handlers uses this property to determine the root element to use for its event delegation needs.

The value of this property is typically equal to `document`, as this is the default context for jQuery objects if none is supplied. The context may differ if, for example, the object was created by searching within an `<iframe>` or XML document.

Note that the context property may only apply to the elements originally selected by `jQuery()`, as it is possible for the user to add elements to the collection via methods such as `.add()` and these may have a different context.

### Example:

#### Determine the exact context used.

    <!DOCTYPE html>
    <html>
    <head>
      <style>
      body { cursor:pointer; }
      div { width:50px; height:30px; margin:5px; float:left;
            background:green; }
      span { color:red; }
      </style>
      <script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.7rc2.js"></script>
    </head>
    <body>
      Context:<ul></ul>
    <script>$("ul")
      .append("<li>" + $("ul").context + "</li>")
      .append("<li>" + $("ul", document.body).context.nodeName + "</li>");

    </script>

    </body>
    </html>

#### Demo: