jquery - What is the $ symbol used for in JavaScript

Question

I am a JavaScript learner and have been researching this matter, but with no success. What is the $ symbol used for in JavaScript besides regular expressions? Any resources or readings regarding this would be appreciated. Thanks.

Answer 1

It doesn't mean anything special.

But because $ is allowed in identifier names, many Javascript libraries have taken to using $ as the "central" interface to them, or at least as a shortcut for accessing their functionality.

For example, if you're using jQuery and you say $("div"), this is a call to the $ function with argument "div". When you say $.post(), it's calling the post method on the $ object (Javascript is nice in that functions are first-class objects).