# jQuery find() Method

jQuery Traversing Methods

## Example

Return all <span> elements that are descendants of <ul>:

$(document).ready(function(){
$("ul").find("span").css({"color":"red","border":"2px solid red"});
});

Result:

body (great-grandparent)
div (grandparent)

ul (parent)
- li (child) span (grandchild)

Try it yourself »

## Definition and Usage

The find() method returns descendant elements of the selected element.

A descendant is a child, grandchild, great-grandchild, and so on.

The DOM tree: This method traverse downwards along descendants of DOM elements, all the way down to the last descendant. To only traverse a single level down the DOM tree (to return direct children), use the children() method.

Note: The filter parameter is required for the find() method, unlike the rest of the tree traversal methods.

Tip: To return all of the descendant elements, use the "*" selector.

## Syntax

$(selector).find(filter)

Parameter | Description
--- | ---
filter | Required. A selector expression, element or jQuery object to filter the search for descendants Note: To return multiple descendants, separate each expression with a comma.

## Try it Yourself - Examples

Return all descendant elements of <html>
Using the "*" selector to return all elements that are descendants of <html>.

Return all <span> elements that are descendants of <ul>
How to return all <span> elements that are descendants of an <ul> element.

Only select descendants with a given class name
How to return descendant elements with class name "1".

Return multiple descendants
How to return multiple descendant elements.

Filter the descendant search with a jQuery collection of all <ul> elements
How to return all <span> elements that are descendants of an <ul> element with a jQuery object.

Show the descendants of an element by tag names
A demonstration which shows who the descendants of a <div> element actually are.

jQuery Traversing Methods

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