# jQuery.hasData()

Categories: Data

## jQuery.hasData( element ) Returns: Boolean

Description: Determine whether an element has any jQuery data associated with it.

- #### version added: 1.5jQuery.hasData( element )

  elementA DOM element to be checked for data.

The `jQuery.hasData()` method provides a way to determine if an element currently has any values that were set using `jQuery.data()`. If no data is associated with an element (there is no data object at all or the data object is empty), the method returns `false`; otherwise it returns `true`.

The primary advantage of `jQuery.hasData(element)` is that it does not create and associate a data object with the element if none currently exists. In contrast, `jQuery.data(element)` always returns a data object to the caller, creating one if no data object previously existed.

### Example:

#### Set data on an element and see the results of hasData.

    <!DOCTYPE html>
    <html>
    <head>
      <script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.7rc2.js"></script>
    </head>
    <body>
      <p>Results: </p>
    <script>
    $(function(){
      var $p = jQuery("p"), p = $p[0];
      $p.append(jQuery.hasData(p)+" "); /* false */
      jQuery.data(p, "testing", 123);
      $p.append(jQuery.hasData(p)+" "); /* true*/
      jQuery.removeData(p, "testing");
      $p.append(jQuery.hasData(p)+" "); /* false */
    });
    </script>

    </body>
    </html>

#### Demo: