check if cached jquery object is still in DOM

Question

Does anyone know how to tell if a cached jQuery object has gone stale, e.g. is no longer in the DOM? For example:

var $cached_elem = $(\'.the_button\');

//         


        

Answer 1

if($elem.closest('body').length > 0) seems like it could do the trick.

$(function() {
    var $button = $(".the_button");
    alert (isStale($button));
    $button.remove();
    alert (isStale($button));
});
    
function isStale($elem)
{
    return $elem.closest("body").length > 0;
};

    Hello World

Edit: Updated in response to Yi Jiang's comment so that it will return correctly if its parent element is removed

Edit 2: Updated in response to lonesomeday's comment - changed parents() to 'closest()` for performance improvement