How to select the first element in the dropdown using jquery?

Solution 1:

Try this out...

$('select option:first-child').attr("selected", "selected");

Another option would be this, but it will only work for one drop down list at a time as coded below:

var myDDL = $('myID');
myDDL[0].selectedIndex = 0;

Take a look at this post on how to set based on value, its interesting but won't help you for this specific issue:

Change the selected value of a drop-down list with jQuery

Solution 2:

Your selector is wrong, you were probably looking for

$('select option:nth-child(1)')

This will work also:

$('select option:first-child')

Solution 3:

Ana alternative Solution for RSolgberg, which fires the 'onchange' event if present:

$("#target").val($("#target option:first").val());

How to make first option of <select > selected with jQuery?

Solution 4:

$("#DDLID").val( $("#DDLID option:first-child").val() );

For Complete Drop Down List Operations using Jquery

Solution 5:

What you want is probably:

$("select option:first-child")

What this code

attr("selected", "selected");

is doing is setting the "selected" attribute to "selected"

If you want the selected options, regardless of whether it is the first-child, the selector is:

$("select").children("[selected]")