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

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

- #### version added: 1.0.parent( [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 `parent()` method traverses to the immediate parent of each of these elements in the DOM tree and constructs a new jQuery object from the matching elements.

This method is similar to `.parents()`, except `.parent()` 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:

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    <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:

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    $( "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:

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

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    <!doctype html><html lang="en"><head>  <meta charset="utf-8">  <title>parent demo</title>  <style>  div, p {    margin: 10px;  }  </style>  <script src="https://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:

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

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    <!doctype html><html lang="en"><head>  <meta charset="utf-8">  <title>parent demo</title>  <script src="https://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: