$this vs $(this) in jQuery

Question

I\'ve seen some discussions on SO regarding $(this) vs $this in jQuery, and they make sense to me. (See discussion here for an example.)

Bu

Answer 1

$this = $(this) is a way to cache the jQuery object. It is expensive to run the jQuery function each time, so storing the output allows you to re-use the selector over and over again without calling jQuery function again.