A selector to get the middle option-element by value is
$(‘.selDiv option[value=”SEL1″]’)
For an index:
$(‘.selDiv option:eq(1)’)
For a known text:
$(‘.selDiv option:contains(“Selection 1”)’)
EDIT: As commented above the OP might have been after changing the selected item of the dropdown. In version 1.6 and higher the prop() method is recommended:
$(‘.selDiv option:eq(1)’).prop(‘selected’, true)
In older versions:
$(‘.selDiv option:eq(1)’).attr(‘selected’, ‘selected’)
EDIT2: after Ryan’s comment. A match on “Selection 10” might be unwanted. I found no selector to match the full text, but a filter works:
$(‘.selDiv option’)
.filter(function(i, e) { return $(e).text() == “Selection 1”})
EDIT3: Use caution with $(e).text() as it can contain a newline making the comparison fail. This happens when the options are implicitly closed (no tag):
If you simply use e.text any extra whitespace like the trailing newline will be removed, making the comparison more robust.
None of the methods above provided the solution I needed so I figured I would provide what worked for me.
$(‘#element option[value=”no”]’).attr(“selected”, “selected”);