## .prevAll( [selector ] )Returns: jQuery

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

- #### version added: 1.2.prevAll( [selector ] )

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

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:

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    <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:

1 |
    $( "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.

## Example:

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

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    <!doctype html><html lang="en"><head>  <meta charset="utf-8">  <title>prevAll 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="https://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: