# .prevAll()

## prevAll ( selector ) Returns: jQuery version added: 1.2

- selector
  Type: Selector
  A string containing a selector expression to match elements against.

Description: Get all preceding siblings of each element in the set of matched elements, optionally filtered by a selector.

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.

## Examples:

#### Example: Locate all the divs preceding the last div and give them a class.

    <!doctype html>
    <html lang="en">
    <head>
      <meta charset="utf-8">
      <title>css demo</title>

      <style>

      div {
        width: 70px;
        height: 70px;
        background: #abc;
        border: 2px solid black;
        margin: 10px;
        float: left;
      }
      div.before {
        border-color: red;
      }

      </style>

      <script src="//code.jquery.com/jquery-1.10.2.js"></script>
    </head>
    <body>

    <div></div>
    <div></div>
    <div></div>
    <div></div>

    <script>

    $( "div:last" ).prevAll().addClass( "before" );

    </script>

    </body>
    </html>

#### Demo: