# :lt() Selector

Categories: Selectors > Basic Filter | Selectors > jQuery Extensions

## lt selector

#### version added: 1.0jQuery(':lt(index)')

- index
    Zero-based index.

Description: Select all elements at an index less than index within the matched set.

index-related selectors

The index-related selectors (including this "less than" selector) filter the set of elements that have matched the expressions that precede them. They narrow the set down based on the order of the elements within this matched set. For example, if elements are first selected with a class selector (`.myclass`) and four elements are returned, these elements are given indices 0 through 3 for the purposes of these selectors.

Note that since JavaScript arrays use 0-based indexing, these selectors reflect that fact. This is why `$('.myclass:lt(1)')` selects the first element in the document with the class `myclass`, rather than selecting no elements. In contrast, `:nth-child(n)` uses 1-based indexing to conform to the CSS specification.

### Additional Notes:

- Because `:lt()` is a jQuery extension and not part of the CSS specification, queries using `:lt()` cannot take advantage of the performance boost provided by the native DOM `querySelectorAll()` method. For better performance in modern browsers, use `$("your-pure-css-selector").slice(0, index)` instead.

### Example:

#### Finds TDs less than the one with the 4th index (TD#4).

    <!DOCTYPE html>
    <html>
    <head>
      <script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.7rc2.js"></script>
    </head>
    <body>
      <table border="1">

      <tr><td>TD #0</td><td>TD #1</td><td>TD #2</td></tr>
      <tr><td>TD #3</td><td>TD #4</td><td>TD #5</td></tr>

      <tr><td>TD #6</td><td>TD #7</td><td>TD #8</td></tr>
    </table>
    <script>$("td:lt(4)").css("color", "red");</script>

    </body>
    </html>

#### Demo: