parent vs closest

Question

Why does this work:

$(\'.button_30\').click(function(){
    $(this).closest(\'.portlet\').find(\'.portlet_content\').text(\"foo\");
});​

an

Answer 1

The closest^{[API Ref]} method traverses up the ancestor tree as far as it needs to go to find a selector match.

The parent^{[API Ref]} method only looks at the direct parent.