jQuery - The noConflict() Method

What if other JavaScript frameworks also use the $ sign as a shortcut?

Some other popular JavaScript frameworks are: MooTools, Backbone, Sammy, Cappuccino, Knockout, JavaScript MVC, Google Web Toolkit, Google Closure, Ember, Batman, and Ext JS.

Some of the other frameworks also use the $ character as a shortcut (just like jQuery), and then you suddenly have two different frameworks using the same shortcut, which might result in that your scripts stop working.

The jQuery team have already thought about this, and implemented the noConflict() method.

The jQuery noConflict() Method

The noConflict() method releases the hold on the $ shortcut identifier, so that other scripts can use it.

You can of course still use jQuery, simply by writing the full name instead of the shortcut:

Example

$.noConflict();
jQuery(document).ready(function(){
jQuery("button").click(function(){
jQuery("p").text("jQuery is still working!");
});
});

Try it yourself »

You can also create your own shortcut very easily. The noConflict() method returns a reference to jQuery, that you can save in a  variable, for later use. Here is an example:

Example

var jq = $.noConflict();
jq(document).ready(function(){
jq("button").click(function(){
jq("p").text("jQuery is still working!");
});
});

Try it yourself »

If you have a block of jQuery code which uses the $ shortcut and you do not want to change it all, you can pass the $ sign in as a parameter to the ready method. This allows you to access jQuery using $, inside this function – outside of it, you will have to use "jQuery":

Example

$.noConflict();
jQuery(document).ready(function($){
$("button").click(function(){
$("p").text("jQuery is still working!");
});
});

Try it yourself »