How do I check how many options there are in a dropdown menu?

How do I check, using jQuery, how many options are there in a drop down menu?

Thanks.

Solution 1:

var length = $('#mySelectList').children('option').length;

or

var length = $('#mySelectList > option').length;

This assumes your <select> list has an ID of mySelectList.

• http://api.jquery.com/length/
• http://api.jquery.com/children/
• http://api.jquery.com/child-selector/

Solution 2:

$("#mydropdown option").length

Or if you already got a reference to it,

$(myDropdown).find("option").length

Solution 3:

Use the length property or the size method to find out how many items are in a jQuery collection. Use the descendant selector to select all <option>'s within a <select>.

HTML:

<select id="myDropDown">
<option>1</option>
<option>2</option>
.
.
.
</select>

JQuery:

var numberOfOptions = $('select#myDropDown option').length

And a quick note, often you will need to do something in jquery for a very specific thing, but you first need to see if the very specific thing exists. The length property is the perfect tool. example:

   if($('#myDropDown option').length > 0{
      //do your stuff..
    } 

This 'translates' to "If item with ID=myDropDown has any descendent 'option' s, go do what you need to do.

Solution 4:

Get the number of options in a particular select element

$("#elementid option").length