← Back to jQuery Course | Chapter 3: Events | Lesson 9 of 11

Event Binding with on()

The on method attaches an event handler.

In this page:

  1. Basic on
  2. Multiple Events with on
  3. Event Data
  4. Delegated on
  5. Named Handlers
Syntax
javascript 
$(selector).on("event1 event2", handler);
$(parent).on("eventName", "childSelector", handler);

Basic on

on() is jQuery's general-purpose method for attaching any event handler to one or more matched elements, and is the modern replacement for older shortcut methods like .click() or .bind().

Example: Basic on

javascript 
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.7.1.min.js"></script>
  <style>
    button { padding:6px 14px; margin:4px; background:#2c6aa0; color:white; border:none; border-radius:4px; cursor:pointer; }
    #resetBtn { background:white; color:#2c6aa0; border:1px solid #2c6aa0; }
    #output { margin-top:10px; padding:8px; border:1px solid #ccc; border-radius:4px; background:#f7f7f7; font-family:monospace; min-height:24px; }
    #demo :where(p, div, span, li, h1, h2, h3, h4, td, th, blockquote, label, section, article, aside) { border:1px solid #4a7fb5; background:#eaf2fb; padding:6px 10px; margin:4px 0; border-radius:4px; }
    #demo :where(ul, ol) { border:1px dashed #888; background:#fafafa; padding:8px 8px 8px 32px; margin:6px 0; }
    #demo :where(table) { border-collapse:collapse; }
    #demo :where(td, th) { border-radius:0; }
    #demo :where(input, select, textarea) { margin:4px 0; }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <button id="resetBtn">Reset</button>
  <section id="demo">
    <button id="btn">Click</button>

  </section>
  <div id="output"></div>
  <script>
    var original = $("#demo").html();

    function init() {
      $("#btn").on("click", function() {
        $("#output").append($("<div>").text("Clicked via on()"));
      });
    }
    init();

    $("#resetBtn").click(function() {
      $("#demo").html(original);
      $("#output").empty();
      init();
    });
  </script>
</body>
</html>

Multiple Events with on

Passing an object of event-name/function pairs to on(), like $(button).on({click: fn1, mouseenter: fn2}), attaches several different handlers in a single call instead of chaining multiple .on() calls.

Example: Multiple Events with on

javascript 
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.7.1.min.js"></script>
  <style>
    button { padding:6px 14px; margin:4px; background:#2c6aa0; color:white; border:none; border-radius:4px; cursor:pointer; }
    #resetBtn { background:white; color:#2c6aa0; border:1px solid #2c6aa0; }
    #output { margin-top:10px; padding:8px; border:1px solid #ccc; border-radius:4px; background:#f7f7f7; font-family:monospace; min-height:24px; }
    #demo :where(p, div, span, li, h1, h2, h3, h4, td, th, blockquote, label, section, article, aside) { border:1px solid #4a7fb5; background:#eaf2fb; padding:6px 10px; margin:4px 0; border-radius:4px; }
    #demo :where(ul, ol) { border:1px dashed #888; background:#fafafa; padding:8px 8px 8px 32px; margin:6px 0; }
    #demo :where(table) { border-collapse:collapse; }
    #demo :where(td, th) { border-radius:0; }
    #demo :where(input, select, textarea) { margin:4px 0; }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <button id="resetBtn">Reset</button>
  <section id="demo">
    <button id="btn">Hover or click</button>

  </section>
  <div id="output"></div>
  <script>
    var original = $("#demo").html();

    function init() {
      $("#btn").on({
        click: function() { $("#output").append($("<div>").text("Clicked")); },
        mouseenter: function() { $("#output").append($("<div>").text("Hovered")); }
      });
    }
    init();

    $("#resetBtn").click(function() {
      $("#demo").html(original);
      $("#output").empty();
      init();
    });
  </script>
</body>
</html>

Event Data

The handler function on() attaches automatically receives the event object as its first argument, giving you access to details like event.type or event.target without any extra setup.

Example: Event Data

javascript 
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.7.1.min.js"></script>
  <style>
    button { padding:6px 14px; margin:4px; background:#2c6aa0; color:white; border:none; border-radius:4px; cursor:pointer; }
    #resetBtn { background:white; color:#2c6aa0; border:1px solid #2c6aa0; }
    #output { margin-top:10px; padding:8px; border:1px solid #ccc; border-radius:4px; background:#f7f7f7; font-family:monospace; min-height:24px; }
    #demo :where(p, div, span, li, h1, h2, h3, h4, td, th, blockquote, label, section, article, aside) { border:1px solid #4a7fb5; background:#eaf2fb; padding:6px 10px; margin:4px 0; border-radius:4px; }
    #demo :where(ul, ol) { border:1px dashed #888; background:#fafafa; padding:8px 8px 8px 32px; margin:6px 0; }
    #demo :where(table) { border-collapse:collapse; }
    #demo :where(td, th) { border-radius:0; }
    #demo :where(input, select, textarea) { margin:4px 0; }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <button id="resetBtn">Reset</button>
  <section id="demo">
    <button id="btn">Click</button>

  </section>
  <div id="output"></div>
  <script>
    var original = $("#demo").html();

    function init() {
      $("#btn").on("click", function(event) {
        $("#output").append($("<div>").text("Type: " + event.type + "Target: " + event.target.tagName));
      });
    }
    init();

    $("#resetBtn").click(function() {
      $("#demo").html(original);
      $("#output").empty();
      init();
    });
  </script>
</body>
</html>

Delegated on

Passing a selector string as on()'s second argument turns it into a delegated handler, letting one listener on a parent respond to events from any current or future descendant matching that selector.

Example: Delegated on

javascript 
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.7.1.min.js"></script>
  <style>
    button { padding:6px 14px; margin:4px; background:#2c6aa0; color:white; border:none; border-radius:4px; cursor:pointer; }
    #resetBtn { background:white; color:#2c6aa0; border:1px solid #2c6aa0; }
    #output { margin-top:10px; padding:8px; border:1px solid #ccc; border-radius:4px; background:#f7f7f7; font-family:monospace; min-height:24px; }
    #demo :where(p, div, span, li, h1, h2, h3, h4, td, th, blockquote, label, section, article, aside) { border:1px solid #4a7fb5; background:#eaf2fb; padding:6px 10px; margin:4px 0; border-radius:4px; }
    #demo :where(ul, ol) { border:1px dashed #888; background:#fafafa; padding:8px 8px 8px 32px; margin:6px 0; }
    #demo :where(table) { border-collapse:collapse; }
    #demo :where(td, th) { border-radius:0; }
    #demo :where(input, select, textarea) { margin:4px 0; }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <button id="resetBtn">Reset</button>
  <section id="demo">
    <ul id="list"><li>Item 1</li></ul>
    <button id="add">Add Item</button>

  </section>
  <div id="output"></div>
  <script>
    var original = $("#demo").html();

    function init() {
      $("#list").on("click", "li", function() {
        $("#output").append($("<div>").text("Clicked: " + $(this).text()));
      });
      $("#add").on("click", function() {
        $("#list").append("<li>New Item</li>");
      });
    }
    init();

    $("#resetBtn").click(function() {
      $("#demo").html(original);
      $("#output").empty();
      init();
    });
  </script>
</body>
</html>

Named Handlers

Assigning the handler to a named function, rather than an anonymous one, means you can later pass that same function reference to .off() to remove exactly that handler and no others.

Example: Named Handlers

javascript 
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.7.1.min.js"></script>
  <style>
    button { padding:6px 14px; margin:4px; background:#2c6aa0; color:white; border:none; border-radius:4px; cursor:pointer; }
    #resetBtn { background:white; color:#2c6aa0; border:1px solid #2c6aa0; }
    #output { margin-top:10px; padding:8px; border:1px solid #ccc; border-radius:4px; background:#f7f7f7; font-family:monospace; min-height:24px; }
    #demo :where(p, div, span, li, h1, h2, h3, h4, td, th, blockquote, label, section, article, aside) { border:1px solid #4a7fb5; background:#eaf2fb; padding:6px 10px; margin:4px 0; border-radius:4px; }
    #demo :where(ul, ol) { border:1px dashed #888; background:#fafafa; padding:8px 8px 8px 32px; margin:6px 0; }
    #demo :where(table) { border-collapse:collapse; }
    #demo :where(td, th) { border-radius:0; }
    #demo :where(input, select, textarea) { margin:4px 0; }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <button id="resetBtn">Reset</button>
  <section id="demo">
    <button id="btn">Click</button>

  </section>
  <div id="output"></div>
  <script>
    var original = $("#demo").html();

    function init() {
      function logClick() {
        $("#output").append($("<div>").text("Named handler ran"));
      }
      $("#btn").on("click", logClick);
    }
    init();

    $("#resetBtn").click(function() {
      $("#demo").html(original);
      $("#output").empty();
      init();
    });
  </script>
</body>
</html>
Related Topics

Event Propagation and Bubbling · Binding Context with proxy() · The jQuery Event Object · The Hover Event

{# common_mistakes/chapter_summary/browser_support: on Hindi pages the view already swaps in the hi_ translation fields (or blanks these out if untranslated), so this renders correctly for both languages without a lang_code check here. #}
Common Mistakes
  1. Passing myHandler() with parentheses to .on("click", ...), which runs it immediately instead of registering it for later.
  2. Attaching a direct handler with $("li").on("click", fn) and expecting it to work on <li> items added later; you need a delegated form like $("ul").on("click", "li", fn).
  3. Using an object with .on({click: fn1, mouseenter: fn2}) and forgetting each key needs its own function, or using anonymous functions that cannot be removed later.
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