How To Determine If an Element Exists Using jQuery

SCENARIO:

I am new to jQuery and I want to know if a certain DOM element exists in the page. I tried the snippet below but it didn't work.

if($("#myElementID")){
    alert("The element exists!");
}

SOLUTION: 
As a beginner, you might think that wrapping the jQuery selector inside an if statement will fix your problem. Ideally that code must work in ordinary programming aspect/concept.


The jQuery selector returns an object every time you use it. If we will use the above snippet, the selector will always return true - regardless if the element doesn't exists.


Here are the proper ways on how to determine if an element really exists in the page:


1. Use length property. This property returns the size of the object.


if($("#myElementID").length > 0){
    alert("The element exists!");
}


or


if($("#myElementID").length){
    alert("The element exists!");
}


TIP: It would be better to use the first implementation for the purpose of code readability.

2. Use size() function.


if($("#myElementID").size()){
    alert("The element exists!");
}




Hope it helps. Cheers!!!