confusion over simple variable declaration jQuery “$variable” vs javascript “var”

Question

I have this simple ghost text implementation:

HTML code:

Answer 1

@mgiuca is entirely right about Javascript variables - the '$' that precedes them is just a naming convention that most use to identify jQuery objects. I add this because you say

because i tried storing jQuery object in non-jQuery variable

but this is wrong. $txtField is a string that you are using to select an object. If you want to store the object itself you should do $txtField = $(#searchPanel form input.ghText) and then use it thusly $txtField.val().

Having said that your code works fine for me unaltered. I've set up a demo which works on Chrome - is this a cut down version of you code?