.prevAll()
.prevAll( [selector] ) Returns: jQuery
Description: Get all preceding siblings of each element in the set of matched elements, optionally filtered by a selector.
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version added: 1.2.prevAll( [selector] )
selectorA string containing a selector expression to match elements against.
Given a jQuery object that represents a set of DOM elements, the .prevAll() method searches through the predecessors of these elements in the DOM tree and construct a new jQuery object from the matching elements; the elements are returned in order beginning with the closest sibling.
The method optionally accepts a selector expression of the same type that we can pass to the $() function. If the selector is supplied, the elements will be filtered by testing whether they match it.
Consider a page with a simple list on it:
<ul> <li>list item 1</li> <li>list item 2</li> <li class="third-item">list item 3</li> <li>list item 4</li> <li>list item 5</li> </ul>
If we begin at the third item, we can find the elements which come before it:
$('li.third-item').prevAll().css('background-color', 'red');
The result of this call is a red background behind items 1 and 2. Since we do not supply a selector expression, these preceding elements are unequivocally included as part of the object. If we had supplied one, the elements would be tested for a match before they were included.
Example:
Locate all the divs preceding the last div and give them a class.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
div { width:70px; height:70px; background:#abc;
border:2px solid black; margin:10px; float:left; }
div.before { border-color: red; }
</style>
<script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.7rc2.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<script>$("div:last").prevAll().addClass("before");</script>
</body>
</html>