Question

103

What is the reason for var $this = this

rated 0 times [ 107] [ 4] / answers: 1 / hits: 23621 / 13 Years ago, mon, august 29, 2011, 12:00:00

I'm not the best at jquery and I came across a var initialization that I don't know why the person who wrote the code did it this way.

In the init for a plugin, we have

this.init = function(settings) {

    var $this = this;

    this.s = {

        initialSlide: 0,

        firstSlide: true,

    };

   ... more code, some uses $this, some uses this

}

So what is the difference here between $this and this and why not use one or the other all the time?

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jaylynbrynnk

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3 Years ago

answered 13 Years ago benitoh · Accepted Answer

Generally, this means a copy of this. The thing about this is that it changes within each function. Storing it this way, however, keeps $this from changing whereas this does change.

jQuery heavily uses the magic this value.

Consider this code, where you might need something like you are seeing:

$.fn.doSomethingWithElements = function() {

    var $this = this;



    this.each(function() {

        // `this` refers to each element and differs each time this function

        //    is called

        //

        // `$this` refers to old `this`, i.e. the set of elements, and will be

        //    the same each time this function is called

    });

};