jQuery - setting the selected value of a select control via its text description

Question

I have a select control, and in a javascript variable I have a text string.

Using jQuery I want to set the selected element of the select control to be the item with

Answer 1

Select by description for jQuery v1.6+

var text1 = 'Two';
$("select option").filter(function() {
  //may want to use $.trim in here
  return $(this).text() == text1;
}).prop('selected', true);

  One
  Two

jQuery versions below 1.6 and greater than or equal to 1.4

var text1 = 'Two';
$("select option").filter(function() {
  //may want to use $.trim in here
  return $(this).text() == text1;
}).attr('selected', true);

  One
  Two

Note that while this approach will work in versions that are above 1.6 but less than 1.9, it has been deprecated since 1.6. It will not work in jQuery 1.9+.

---

Previous versions

val() should handle both cases.

$('select').val('1'); // selects "Two"
$('select').val('Two'); // also selects "Two"

  One
  Two