How do I make my live jQuery search wait a second before performing the search?

Question

I\'ve got a search input which sends data from an input to a php file as I type. The php file does a search on my database and shows up a list of search options. You know, t

Answer 1

Easy, using setTimeout. Of course you only want one timer going at once, so it's important to use clearTimeout at the beginning of the function...

$(function() {
  var timer;
  $("#searchMe").keyup(function() {
    clearTimeout(timer);
    var ms = 200; // milliseconds
    var val = this.value;
    timer = setTimeout(function() {
      lookup(val);
    }, ms);
  });
});