I want to replace the HREFs in a list with new URLs.

I have something like this:

<ul id="sidebarItems">
   <li><a href="/PartBasicInfo/XX">Part Basic Info</a></li>
   <li><a href="/SupplierContracts/XX">Supplier Contracts</a></li>
</ul>

I'm trying this (I know there are lots of ways to do it), but not having any luck. Any ideas?

function SetUrlParams() {
        $("#sidebarItems > li > a").each(function (idx, a) {
            a.attr("href", "MyURLOfChoice");
        });

I want to replace the HREFs in a list with new URLs.

I have something like this:

<ul id="sidebarItems">
   <li><a href="/PartBasicInfo/XX">Part Basic Info</a></li>
   <li><a href="/SupplierContracts/XX">Supplier Contracts</a></li>
</ul>

I'm trying this (I know there are lots of ways to do it), but not having any luck. Any ideas?

function SetUrlParams() {
        $("#sidebarItems > li > a").each(function (idx, a) {
            a.attr("href", "MyURLOfChoice");
        });

• javascript
• jquery

Share Improve this question Follow edited May 7, 2012 at 16:35 gdoron 150k5959 gold badges302302 silver badges371371 bronze badges asked May 7, 2012 at 15:24 birdusbirdus 7,5241717 gold badges6464 silver badges9595 bronze badges 5

• Also, why am I not seeing the formatting toolbar when I make my posts? Would like to mark code blocks. – birdus Commented May 7, 2012 at 15:25
• Re: your ment, no idea. It works just fine for me. Ask on Meta. – Matt Ball Commented May 7, 2012 at 15:27
• Re the disappearing formatting toolbar, I don't think it has anything to do with you particularly. That happens to me once in a great while. Refreshing the page can fix it. – DOK Commented May 7, 2012 at 15:32
• I've verified that the loop is executing and that "this.href" is, in fact, the old hyperlink. However, when the loop is done executing and I hover over the menu items, they still have their old values. – birdus Commented May 7, 2012 at 15:58
• @birdus Use $(this).attr('href', "foo") if you want to change the HTML element, not just the variable. – gdoron Commented May 7, 2012 at 16:36

Add a ment  | 

5 Answers 5

Sorted by: Reset to default 5

The second parameter is the DOM element, not the jQuery element, wrap a with $(a)

function SetUrlParams() {
    $("#sidebarItems > li > a").each(function(idx, a) {
        $(a).attr("href", "MyURLOfChoice");
    });
}​

Or leave jQuery for this simple task:

function SetUrlParams() {
    $("#sidebarItems > li > a").each(function(idx, a) {
        a.href = "MyURLOfChoice";
    });
}​

Note that you can access the DOM element with this instead of a.

Try this where this refers to each of the anchor element in the matched set.

 function SetUrlParams() {
    $("#sidebarItems > li > a").each(function(){
       this.href = "MyURLOfChoice";
    });
 }

Note that in your code a refers to the dom element so you should convert it to jQuery object before calling any jQuery method if you want to keep your code.

$('#sidebaritems > li > a').each( function(){
    this.href = newURL;
});

The second parameter in the function passed to each will be the DOM element, not a jQuery object. You need to use $(a), or just $(this) would work as well.

i tested this and it is working here

$("#sidebarItems > li > a").each(function (idx, a) {
        $(a).attr("href", "MyURLOfChoice");
    });

it appears that a parameter is a HtmlElement, not wrapped by jquery