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and there are 5 <li> 's on the page each with a data-slide=number attribute (number being 1,2,3,4,5 respectively) .

I now need to find the currently active slide number which is mapped to var current = $('ul').data(current); and is updated on each slide change.

So far my tries have been unsuccessful, trying to construct the selector that would match the current slide:

$('ul').find(el+[data-slide=+current+]);
does not match/return anything…
The reason I can't hardcode the li part is that this is a user accessible variable that can be changed to a different element if required, so it may not always be an li.
Any ideas on what I'm missing?
                you sure within your .find(el+[data-slide=+current+]); is the code that you write? it seems you missed some quotations to "[data-slide]"
– xandy
                Nov 16, 2010 at 5:20
                That's what helped me to select all data attributes (regardless the value): $('*[data-slide]') You can use it with e.g. $('*[data-slide]').each( function() { ... });
– Avatar
                Jan 14, 2020 at 8:17
You have to inject the value of current into an Attribute Equals selector:
$("ul").find(`[data-slide='${current}']`)
For older JavaScript environments (ES5 and earlier):
$("ul").find("[data-slide='" + current + "']"); 
                I worry that this won't work if data was added via jQuery .data(...) function, since this doesn't always render an attribute and soemtimes uses browser specific storage mechanism.  Another reason that I wish jQuery core had a data specific selector.
– AaronLS
                Oct 31, 2012 at 18:43
                Notice that it doesn't work for elements where you set data with $('#element').data('some-att-name', value); but only for those with hardcoded attribute. I've got this problem and to make it work set data by writing the attribute directly $('#element').attr('data-some-att-name', value);
– Pawel
                Oct 28, 2013 at 16:55
                Geepers, I lost a couple of hours here!  Confirming that adding the data-{somevalue} with attr dynamically allows you to use Jquery selector to find data field.
– Vinnie Amir
                Sep 6, 2022 at 6:00
in case you don't want to type all that, here's a shorter way to query by data attribute:
$("ul[data-slide='" + current +"']");
http://james.padolsey.com/javascript/a-better-data-selector-for-jquery/

                For those of you who care, given the structure <ul><li data-slide="item"></li></ul> this answer's selector will return undefined so it does not work given the user's scenario.  This answer WILL work for the structure <ul data-slide="item"><li></li></ul>  While I understand why its popularity due to brevity, it is technically an incorrect answer. jsfiddle.net/py5p2abL/1
– akousmata
                Dec 4, 2014 at 15:15
When searching with [data-x=...], watch out, it doesn't work with jQuery.data(..) setter:
$('<b data-x="1">'  ).is('[data-x=1]') // this works
$('<b>').data('x', 1).is('[data-x=1]') // this doesn't
> false
$('<b>').attr('data-x', 1).is('[data-x=1]') // this is the workaround
You can use this instead:
$.fn.filterByData = function(prop, val) {
    return this.filter(
        function() { return $(this).data(prop)==val; }
$('<b>').data('x', 1).filterByData('x', 1).length
I improved upon psycho brm's filterByData extension to jQuery.
Where the former extension searched on a key-value pair, with this extension you can additionally search for the presence of a data attribute, irrespective of its value.
(function ($) {
    $.fn.filterByData = function (prop, val) {
        var $self = this;
        if (typeof val === 'undefined') {
            return $self.filter(
                function () { return typeof $(this).data(prop) !== 'undefined'; }
        return $self.filter(
            function () { return $(this).data(prop) == val; }
})(window.jQuery);
Usage:
$('<b>').data('x', 1).filterByData('x', 1).length    // output: 1
$('<b>').data('x', 1).filterByData('x').length       // output: 1
// test data
function extractData() {
  log('data-prop=val ...... ' + $('div').filterByData('prop', 'val').length);
  log('data-prop .......... ' + $('div').filterByData('prop').length);
  log('data-random ........ ' + $('div').filterByData('random').length);
  log('data-test .......... ' + $('div').filterByData('test').length);
  log('data-test=anyval ... ' + $('div').filterByData('test', 'anyval').length);
$(document).ready(function() {
  $('#b5').data('test', 'anyval');
// the actual extension
(function($) {
  $.fn.filterByData = function(prop, val) {
    var $self = this;
    if (typeof val === 'undefined') {
      return $self.filter(
        function() {
          return typeof $(this).data(prop) !== 'undefined';
    return $self.filter(
      function() {
        return $(this).data(prop) == val;
})(window.jQuery);
//just to quickly log
function log(txt) {
  if (window.console && console.log) {
    console.log(txt);
    //} else {
    //  alert('You need a console to check the results');
  $("#result").append(txt + "<br />");
#bPratik {
  font-family: monospace;
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.11.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div id="bPratik">
  <h2>Setup</h2>
  <div id="b1" data-prop="val">Data added inline :: data-prop="val"</div>
  <div id="b2" data-prop="val">Data added inline :: data-prop="val"</div>
  <div id="b3" data-prop="diffval">Data added inline :: data-prop="diffval"</div>
  <div id="b4" data-test="val">Data added inline :: data-test="val"</div>
  <div id="b5">Data will be added via jQuery</div>
  <h2>Output</h2>
  <div id="result"></div>
  <button onclick="extractData()">Reveal</button>
I have faced the same issue while fetching elements using jQuery and data-* attribute.
so for your reference the shortest code is here:
This is my HTML Code:
<section data-js="carousel"></section>
<section></section>
<section></section>
<section data-js="carousel"></section>
This is my jQuery selector:
$('section[data-js="carousel"]');
// this will return array of the section elements which has data-js="carousel" attribute.
This selector $("ul [data-slide='" + current +"']"); will work for following structure:
<ul><li data-slide="item"></li></ul>  
While this $("ul[data-slide='" + current +"']"); will work for:
<ul data-slide="item"><li></li></ul>
Going back to his original question, about how to make this work without knowing the element type in advance, the following does this:
$(ContainerNode).find(el.nodeName + "[data-slide='" + current + "']");