Why does JS code "var a = document.querySelector('a[data-a=1]');" cause error?

I've an element in the DOM:

<a href="#" data-a="1">Link</a>

I want to get this element via its HTML5 custom data attribute data-a. So I write JS codes:

var a = document.querySelector('a[data-a=1]');

But this code doesn't work and I get an error in browser's console. (I tested Chrome and Firefox.)

JS code var a = document.querySelector('a[data-a=a]'); doesn't cause error. So I think the problem is that HTML5's JS API document.querySelector doesn't support to look for the number value in HTML5 custom data attribute.

Is this a problem of browser implementation bug or a problem of HTML5's spec relevant to document.querySelector?

Then I tested codes below on http://validator.w3.org/:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title>An HTML Document</title>
<a href="#" data-a="1">Link</a>

They're validated. Since these HTML5 codes are validated. We should can use HTML5's JS API document.querySelector to look for this anchor element via its custom data attribute. But tha fact is that I get error.

Does HTML5's spec to HTML5 JS API document.querySelector say that this method can not look for an HTML5 data custom attribute with a number value? (An HTML5 spec source is wanted.)

From the selectors specification:

Attribute values must be CSS identifiers or strings.

Identifiers cannot start with a number. Strings must be quoted.

1 is therefore neither a valid identifier nor a string.

Use "1" (which is a string) instead.

var a = document.querySelector('a[data-a="1"]');

You could use

var a = document.querySelector('a[data-a="1"]');

instead of

var a = document.querySelector('a[data-a=1]');

Because you need parentheses around the value your looking for. So here : document.querySelector('a[data-a="1"]')

If you don't know in advance the value but is looking for it via variable you can use template literals :

Say we have divs with data-price

<div data-price="99">My okay price</div>
<div data-price="100">My too expensive price</div>

We want to find an element but with the number that someone chose (so we don't know it):

// User chose 99    
let chosenNumber = 99
document.querySelector(`[data-price="${chosenNumber}"]`)

Why does JS code "var a = document.querySelector('a[data-a=1]');" cause error?

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