jQuery: unrecognized expression

Question

$(document).ready(function(){

    var page = window.location.hash;
    if(page != ""){
        $('a[href='+ page +']').addclass('selected');
        pageload(page.replace('#/page/', 'pages/?load='));
    }

    $('#top a').click(function(event){  
        $('#top a').removeClass('selected');
        $(this).addClass('selected');

        pageload($(this).attr('href').replace('#/page/', 'pages/?load='));

        event.preventDefault;
    });
});

 

<div id="top">
    <a href="#/page/link">Link</a>
    <a href="#/page/link">Link</a>
    <a href="#/page/link">Link</a>
    <a href="#/page/link">Link</a>
    <a href="#/page/link">Link</a>
</div>

So when i'm trying to do this, and load up a page using the window.location.hash, i get an error in the console saying:

Uncaught Error: Syntax error, unrecognized expression: [href=#/page/link]

How can i make this work?

Solution

Try this instead:

$('a[href="'+ page +'"]').addClass('selected');

(You need to escape the value of the href – with this, you get a[href="#/page/link"].)

Comments

[Thew]

"Uncaught TypeError: Object [object Object] has no method 'addclass'" this is what i get in return.

[Thew]

Ah, the C in addClass needed to be capital, stupid me. Thanks!

[Jeffz]

good call - starting from jQ 1.5 url needs to be wrapped into something, e.g. href="my/url/" -- href=my/url/ will not go through anymore

[Josua Marcel C]

$(container+":has(ul)").length how to change that?

[Sophie Alpert]

@JosuaMarcelChrisano: What do you mean?

[Josua Marcel C]

i have the line if ($(container+":has(ul)").length === 0){...} in jquery 1.3.2, then got error when i upgrade the jquery to 1.8.2. How to upgrade my code too? the error is "Uncaught Error: Syntax error, unrecognized expression: [object Object]:has(ul)"