# All Selector (“*”)

Categories: Selectors > Basic

## all selector

#### version added: 1.0jQuery('*')

Description: Selects all elements.

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

### Examples:

#### Example: Finds every element (including head, body, etc) in the document.

    <!DOCTYPE html>
    <html>
    <head>
      <style>
      h3 { margin: 0; }
      div,span,p {
        width: 80px;
        height: 40px;
        float:left;
        padding: 10px;
        margin: 10px;
        background-color: #EEEEEE;
      }
      </style>
      <script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.7rc2.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: A common way to select all elements is to find within document.body so elements like head, script, etc are left out.

    <!DOCTYPE html>
    <html>
    <head>
      <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="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.7rc2.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: