# .parent()

## parent ( selector ) Returns: jQuery version added: 1.0

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

Description: Get the parent of each element in the current set of matched elements, optionally filtered by a selector.

Given a jQuery object that represents a set of DOM elements, the `.parent()` method allows us to search through the parents of these elements in the DOM tree and construct a new jQuery object from the matching elements.

The `.parents()` and `.parent()` methods are similar, except that the latter only travels a single level up the DOM tree. Also, `$( "html" ).parent()` method returns a set containing `document` whereas `$( "html" ).parents()` returns an empty set.

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 basic nested list on it:

    <ul class="level-1">
      <li class="item-i">I</li>
      <li class="item-ii">II
        <ul class="level-2">
          <li class="item-a">A</li>
          <li class="item-b">B
            <ul class="level-3">
              <li class="item-1">1</li>
              <li class="item-2">2</li>
              <li class="item-3">3</li>
            </ul>
          </li>
          <li class="item-c">C</li>
        </ul>
      </li>
      <li class="item-iii">III</li>
    </ul>

If we begin at item A, we can find its parents:

    $( "li.item-a" ).parent().css( "background-color", "red" );

The result of this call is a red background for the level-2 list. Since we do not supply a selector expression, the parent element is unequivocally included as part of the object. If we had supplied one, the element would be tested for a match before it was included.

## Examples:

#### Example: Shows the parent of each element as (parent > child). Check the View Source to see the raw html.

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

      <style>

      div, p {
        margin: 10px;
      }

      </style>

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

    <div>div,
      <span>span, </span>
      <b>b </b>
    </div>

    <p>p,
      <span>span,
        <em>em </em>
      </span>
    </p>

    <div>div,
      <strong>strong,
        <span>span, </span>
        <em>em,
          <b>b, </b>
        </em>
      </strong>
      <b>b </b>
    </div>

    <script>

    $( "*", document.body ).each(function() {
      var parentTag = $( this ).parent().get( 0 ).tagName;
      $( this ).prepend( document.createTextNode( parentTag + " > " ) );
    });

    </script>

    </body>
    </html>

#### Demo:

#### Example: Find the parent element of each paragraph with a class "selected".

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

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

    <div><p>Hello</p></div>
    <div class="selected"><p>Hello Again</p></div>

    <script>

    $( "p" ).parent( ".selected" ).css( "background", "yellow" );

    </script>

    </body>
    </html>

#### Demo: