Difference between $(this) and ‘this’ in jQuery?

this and $(this) refers to the same element. The only difference is the way they are used. ‘this’ is used in traditional sense, when ‘this’ is wrapped in $() then it becomes a jQuery object and you are able to use the power of jQuery.

$(document).ready(function(){
    $('#spnValue').mouseover(function(){
       alert($(this).text());
  });
});

In below example, this is an object but since it is not wrapped in $(), we can’t use jQuery method and use the native JavaScript to get the value of span element.

$(document).ready(function(){
    $('#spnValue').mouseover(function(){
       alert(this.innerText);
  });
});