How to add a list item to an existing unordered list

Question

I have code that looks like this:

<div id="header">
    <ul class="tabs">
        <li><a href="/user/view"><span class="tab">Profile</span></a></li>
        <li><a href="/user/edit"><span class="tab">Edit</span></a></li>
    </ul>
</div>

I'd like to use jQuery to add the following to the list:

<li><a href="/user/messages"><span class="tab">Message Center</span></a></li>

I tried this:

$("#content ul li:last").append("<li><a href="/user/messages"><span class="tab">Message Center</span></a></li>");

But that adds the new li inside the last li (just before the closing tag), not after it. What's the best way to add this li?

Runofthemill

Answer 1

This would do it:

$("#header ul").append('<li><a href="/user/messages"><span class="tab">Message Center</span></a></li>');

Two things:

• You can just append the <li> to the <ul> itself.
• You need to use the opposite type of quotes than what you're using in your HTML. So since you're using double quotes in your attributes, surround the code with single quotes.

Stationary

just as a side note, you can use prepend instead of append in case you want to add as the first element instead of the last – Hydrochloride

Answer 2

You can also do it in a more 'object' and still easy-to-read way:

$('#content ul').append(
    $('<li>').append(
        $('<a>').attr('href','/user/messages').append(
            $('<span>').attr('class', 'tab').append("Message center")
)));

You don't have to fight with quotes then, but you must keep trace of braces :)

Fransen

Wouldn't your approach start new tags but not close them? – Appoggiatura

No, jquery creates tags using DOM manipulation, so it has only to know it's name – Fransen

I love this. I hate messing with strings and quotes :) BTW: Other option would be https://mcmap.net/q/10141/-javascript-equivalent-to-printf-string-format – Cran

This is by far the more preferable way, that is to use the more object-oriented manner. – Tiger

You can escape any special HTML characters in user-input by using $('<span>').text(unsafe_user_input) instead of the direct append("Message center"). – Central

Answer 3

If you are simply adding text in that li, you can use:

 $("#ul").append($("<li>").text("Some Text."));

Bannockburn

Works like a charm for me after trying all failed solution.. – Abortive

Answer 4

How about using "after" instead of "append".

$("#content ul li:last").after('<li><a href="/user/messages"><span class="tab">Message Center</span></a></li>');

".after()" can insert content, specified by the parameter, after each element in the set of matched elements.

Berchtesgaden

Thank you, this helped me. To insert into the middle of a list, you need to use before or after. – Bunt

this combined with @Danubian_Sailor's answer hit the spot for me – Keitel

Answer 5

jQuery comes with the following options which could fulfil your need in this case:

append is used to add an element at the end of the parent div specified in the selector:

$('ul.tabs').append('<li>An element</li>');

prepend is used to add an element at the top/start of the parent div specified in the selector:

$('ul.tabs').prepend('<li>An element</li>');

insertAfter lets you insert an element of your selection next after an element you specify. Your created element will then be put in the DOM after the specified selector closing tag:

$('<li>An element</li>').insertAfter('ul.tabs>li:last');
will result in:
<li><a href="/user/edit"><span class="tab">Edit</span></a></li>
<li>An element</li>

insertBefore will do the opposite of the above:

$('<li>An element</li>').insertBefore('ul.tabs>li:last');
will result in:
<li>An element</li>
<li><a href="/user/edit"><span class="tab">Edit</span></a></li>

Oxyhydrogen

Answer 6

You should append to the container, not the last element:

$("#content ul").append('<li><a href="/user/messages"><span class="tab">Message Center</span></a></li>');

The append() function should've probably been called add() in jQuery because it sometimes confuses people. You would think it appends something after the given element, while it actually adds it to the element.

Gisela

Answer 7

$("#content ul").append('<li><a href="/user/messages"><span class="tab">Message Center</span></a></li>');

Stupendous

An explanation would be in order. For instance, user "Dipak" wrote: "Shouldn't it be '#header' instead of '#content'?" – Nalley

Answer 8

Instead of

$("#header ul li:last")

try

$("#header ul")

Dody

Answer 9

Use:

$("#content ul").append('<li><a href="/user/messages"><span class="tab">Message Center</span></a></li>');

Here is some feedback regarding code readability (shameless plug for a blog). http://coderob.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/code-readability

Consider separating the declaration of your new elements from the action of adding them to your UL.. It would look something like this:

var tabSpan = $('<span/>', {
    html: 'Message Center'
});
var messageCenterAnchor = $('<a/>', {
    href='/user/messages',
    html: tabSpan
});
var newListItem = $('<li/>', {
    html: messageCenterAnchor,
    "id": "myIDGoesHere"
});    // NOTE: you have to put quotes around "id" for IE..

$("content ul").append(newListItem);

Failure

var newListItem = $('<li/>', { html: messageCenterAnchor }); How do I get the li and id? – Lettuce

@jmogera, are you trying to set the id? If so, you can just do that inside the { }'s. I updated the code above :) – Failure

The link is (effectively broken): "Oops! That page can’t be found." – Nalley

Answer 10

Use:

// Creating and adding an element to the page at the same time.
$("ul").append("<li>list item</li>");

Bullhorn

Answer 11

This is the shortest way you can do that:

list.push($('<li>', {text: blocks[i] }));
$('ul').append(list);

Where blocks is an array. And you need to loop through the array.

Milda

Answer 12

This is another one

$("#header ul li").last().html('<li> Menu 5 </li>');

Marrowfat

Answer 13

Add li in ul as first item using prepend() function of jquery

$("ul").prepend("<li>first item</li>");

Add li in ul as last item using append() function of jquery

$("ul").append("<li>last item</li>");

Balaam

Answer 14

Just to add to this thread - if you are moving an existing item you will need to use clone and then true/false on whether you clone/deep-clone the events as well (https://api.jquery.com/clone/).

Example: $("#content ul").append($('.existing_li').clone(true));

Alcoholometer