Does an input have an "original value" attribute?

Question

With the latest changes to jQuery there are the different methods, .prop() .attr().

What I am wondering is if there is a way to get the original value of the input when the page was loaded?

I know I could do:

$('#input').data('originalValue', $('#input').val());

and then I can refer to it through

$('#input').data('originalValue');

But I thought that since I can say, find out the original checked state of a checkbox I thought maybe there is something similar for the value?

Answer 1

You can use the input element's defaultValue property

For example:

$('#input')[0].defaultValue

Note how by treating the jQuery object as an array we are able to directly access the DOM node and its native property.

See jsFiddle demo

Answer 2

You can use jQuery.get to get the element and grab the .defaultValue property:

$('#input').get(0).defaultValue

Or use jQuery.prop since jQuery 1.6:

$('#input').prop("defaultValue");

Likewise for defaultChecked (radio and checkbox) and defaultSelected (option).