Changing the selected option of an HTML Select element

In my HTML, I have a <select> with three <option> elements. I want to use jQuery to check each option's value against a Javascript var. If one matches, I want to set the selected attribute of that option. How would I do that?

Solution 1:

Vanilla JavaScript

Using plain old JavaScript:

var val = "Fish";
var sel = document.getElementById('sel');
document.getElementById('btn').onclick = function() {
  var opts = sel.options;
  for (var opt, j = 0; opt = opts[j]; j++) {
    if (opt.value == val) {
      sel.selectedIndex = j;
      break;
    }
  }
}

<select id="sel">
    <option>Cat</option>
    <option>Dog</option>
    <option>Fish</option>
</select>
<button id="btn">Select Fish</button>

jQuery

But if you really want to use jQuery:

var val = 'Fish';
$('#btn').on('click', function() {
  $('#sel').val(val);
});

var val = 'Fish';
$('#btn').on('click', function() {
  $('#sel').val(val);
});

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.11.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<select id="sel">
    <option>Cat</option>
    <option>Dog</option>
    <option>Fish</option>
</select>
<button id="btn">Select Fish</button>

jQuery - Using Value Attributes

In case your options have value attributes which differ from their text content and you want to select via text content:

<select id="sel">
    <option value="1">Cat</option>
    <option value="2">Dog</option>
    <option value="3">Fish</option>
</select>
<script>
    var val = 'Fish';
    $('#sel option:contains(' + val + ')').prop({selected: true});
</script>

Demo

But if you do have the above set up and want to select by value using jQuery, you can do as before:

var val = 3;
$('#sel').val(val);

Modern DOM

For the browsers that support document.querySelector and the HTMLOptionElement::selected property, this is a more succinct way of accomplishing this task:

var val = 3;    
document.querySelector('#sel [value="' + val + '"]').selected = true;

Demo

Knockout.js

<select data-bind="value: val">
    <option value="1">Cat</option>
    <option value="2">Dog</option>
    <option value="3">Fish</option>
</select>
<script>
    var viewModel = {
        val: ko.observable()
    };
    ko.applyBindings(viewModel);
    viewModel.val(3);
</script>

Demo

Polymer

<template id="template" is="dom-bind">
    <select value="{{ val }}">
        <option value="1">Cat</option>
        <option value="2">Dog</option>
        <option value="3">Fish</option>
    </select>
</template>
<script>
    template.val = 3;
</script>

Demo

Angular 2

Note: this has not been updated for the final stable release.

<app id="app">
    <select [value]="val">
        <option value="1">Cat</option>
        <option value="2">Dog</option>
        <option value="3">Fish</option>
    </select>
</app>
<script>
    var App = ng.Component({selector: 'app'})
        .View({template: app.innerHTML})
        .Class({constructor:  function() {}});

    ng.bootstrap(App).then(function(app) {
        app._hostComponent.instance.val = 3;
    });
</script>

Demo

Vue 2

<div id="app">
    <select v-model="val">
        <option value="1">Cat</option>
        <option value="2">Dog</option>
        <option value="3">Fish</option>
    </select>
</div>
<script>
    var app = new Vue({
        el: '#app',
        data: {
                val: null,
        },
        mounted: function() {
                this.val = 3;
        }
    });
</script>

Demo

Solution 2:

None of the examples using jquery in here are actually correct as they will leave the select displaying the first entry even though value has been changed.

The right way to select Alaska and have the select show the right item as selected using:

<select id="state">
    <option value="AL">Alabama</option>
    <option value="AK">Alaska</option>
    <option value="AZ">Arizona</option>
</select>

With jquery would be:

$('#state').val('AK').change();

Solution 3:

You can change the value of the select element, which changes the selected option to the one with that value, using JavaScript:

document.getElementById('sel').value = 'bike';​​​​​​​​​​

DEMO

Solution 4:

Markup

<select id="my_select">
    <option value="1">First</option>
    <option value="2">Second</option>
    <option value="3">Third</option>
</select>

jQuery

var my_value = 2;
$('#my_select option').each(function(){
    var $this = $(this); // cache this jQuery object to avoid overhead

    if ($this.val() == my_value) { // if this option's value is equal to our value
        $this.prop('selected', true); // select this option
        return false; // break the loop, no need to look further
    }
});

Demo