$(String,Element|jQuery)

$(String expr, Element|jQuery context) returns jQuery

This function accepts a string containing a CSS or basic XPath selector which is then used to match a set of elements.

Example:
Finds all p elements that are children of a div element.

$("div > p")

HTML:

<p>one</p> <div><p>two</p></div> <p>three</p>

Result:

<pre>[ <p>two</p> ]</pre>