Get selected value of a dropdown s item using jQuery

Question

How can I get the selected value of a dropdown box using jQuery?
I tried using

var value = $('#dropDownId').val();

and

var value = $('select#dropDownId option:selected').val();

but both return an empty string.

Answer 1

Use the jQuery: selected selector in combination with val () method to find the selected option value in a drop-down list.