Why does $('#id') return true if id doesn't exist?

Question

I always wondered why jQuery returns true if I\'m trying to find elements by id selector that doesnt exist in the DOM structure.

Like this:

Answer 1

This is just how jQuery works.

$("#something")

Object 0=div#something length=1 jquery=1.2.6

$("#nothing")

Object length=0 jquery=1.2.6