Getting and Setting Text HTML and Values
Use text() to read the plain text inside an element.
Syntax
$(selector).text();
$(selector).text("new text");
$(selector).html("<b>new html</b>");
$(selector).val();
$(selector).val("new value");Reading Text
The text() method reads back the plain-text content of an element, stripping out any HTML tags found inside it -- so a <strong> tag inside the element is invisible to text(), only its wording is returned.
Example: Reading Text
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.7.1.min.js"></script>
<style>
#box { background:steelblue; color:#1a1a1a; padding:10px; border-radius:4px; display:inline-block; margin:10px 0; }
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="runBtn">Run</button>
<button id="resetBtn">Reset</button>
<section id="demo">
<div id="box"><strong>Bold</strong> text</div>
</section>
<div id="output"></div>
<script>
var original = $("#demo").html();
$("#runBtn").click(function() {
$("#output").text($("#box").text());
});
$("#resetBtn").click(function() {
$("#demo").html(original);
$("#output").empty();
});
</script>
</body>
</html>Setting Text
Calling text() with a string argument replaces an element's entire content with that plain text, automatically escaping any HTML-special characters so they display literally rather than being parsed as markup.
Example: Setting Text
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.7.1.min.js"></script>
<style>
#box { background:steelblue; color:#1a1a1a; padding:10px; border-radius:4px; display:inline-block; margin:10px 0; }
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="runBtn">Run</button>
<button id="resetBtn">Reset</button>
<section id="demo">
<div id="box"></div>
</section>
<div id="output"></div>
<script>
var original = $("#demo").html();
$("#runBtn").click(function() {
$("#box").text("<b>Not bold</b>");
});
$("#resetBtn").click(function() {
$("#demo").html(original);
$("#output").empty();
});
</script>
</body>
</html>Reading HTML
html() reads back an element's full inner markup, including any nested tags, which is what you want when you need to inspect or copy structured content rather than just its wording.
Example: Reading HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.7.1.min.js"></script>
<style>
#box { background:steelblue; color:#1a1a1a; padding:10px; border-radius:4px; display:inline-block; margin:10px 0; }
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="runBtn">Run</button>
<button id="resetBtn">Reset</button>
<section id="demo">
<div id="box"><strong>Bold</strong> text</div>
</section>
<div id="output"></div>
<script>
var original = $("#demo").html();
$("#runBtn").click(function() {
$("#output").text($("#box").html());
});
$("#resetBtn").click(function() {
$("#demo").html(original);
$("#output").empty();
});
</script>
</body>
</html>Setting HTML
Calling html() with a string argument replaces an element's contents with that markup, parsing it as real HTML -- unlike text(), any tags in the string become live elements in the page.
Example: Setting HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.7.1.min.js"></script>
<style>
#box { background:steelblue; color:#1a1a1a; padding:10px; border-radius:4px; display:inline-block; margin:10px 0; }
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="runBtn">Run</button>
<button id="resetBtn">Reset</button>
<section id="demo">
<div id="box"></div>
</section>
<div id="output"></div>
<script>
var original = $("#demo").html();
$("#runBtn").click(function() {
$("#box").html("<strong>Now bold</strong>");
});
$("#resetBtn").click(function() {
$("#demo").html(original);
$("#output").empty();
});
</script>
</body>
</html>Getting and Setting Values
val() reads or sets the current value of a form control like an input, select, or textarea, which is distinct from text() and html() since a form control's displayed value isn't stored as regular element content.
Example: Getting and Setting Values
<!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="runBtn">Run</button>
<button id="resetBtn">Reset</button>
<section id="demo">
<input id="name" type="text" value="Alice">
</section>
<div id="output"></div>
<script>
var original = $("#demo").html();
$("#runBtn").click(function() {
$("#output").text(String($("#name").val()));
$("#name").val("Bob");
});
$("#resetBtn").click(function() {
$("#demo").html(original);
$("#output").empty();
});
</script>
</body>
</html>Related Topics
{# 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
- Using
.html()with text that comes from user input, which lets any tags or scripts in it be parsed;.text()escapes them. - Expecting
.text()on a<div>to keep its inner tags, when it returns only the text and drops markup like<strong>. - Using
.text()on an input and getting nothing; form controls hold their current value in.val().
🔒
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