# :selected Selector

Categories: Selectors > Form | Selectors > jQuery Extensions

## selected selector

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

Description: Selects all elements that are selected.

The `:selected` selector works for `<option>` elements. It does not work for checkboxes or radio inputs; use `:checked` for them.

### Additional Notes:

- Because `:selected` is a jQuery extension and not part of the CSS specification, queries using `:selected` cannot take advantage of the performance boost provided by the native DOM `querySelectorAll()` method. To achieve the best performance when using `:selected` to select elements, first select the elements using a pure CSS selector, then use `.filter(":selected")`.

### Example:

#### Attaches a change event to the select that gets the text for each selected option and writes them in the div. It then triggers the event for the initial text draw.

    <!DOCTYPE html>
    <html>
    <head>
      <style>
      div { color:red; }
      </style>
      <script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.7rc2.js"></script>
    </head>
    <body>
      <select name="garden" multiple="multiple">

        <option>Flowers</option>
        <option selected="selected">Shrubs</option>
        <option>Trees</option>
        <option selected="selected">Bushes</option>

        <option>Grass</option>
        <option>Dirt</option>
      </select>
      <div></div>
    <script>

        $("select").change(function () {
              var str = "";
              $("select option:selected").each(function () {
                    str += $(this).text() + " ";
                  });
              $("div").text(str);
            })
            .trigger('change');
    </script>

    </body>
    </html>

#### Demo: