Hello fellow coders!
I’ve come across something in some JavaScript code that has me puzzled, and I’m hoping someone here can clarify it for me.
The code looks like this:
$(document).ready(function() {
alert("Page is ready!");
});
Specifically, I’m not sure what the “$” sign means here. Is this something that’s part of the core JavaScript language itself, or does it come from a library, maybe like jQuery?
Any explanation would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for the help! 
Hey @Shielagaa,
Happy to shed some light on that dollar sign you encountered! It can be a bit confusing if you haven’t seen it before.
The $ in javascript meaning is quite simple in this case! It’s a shorthand for jQuery, which is a popular JavaScript library. When you see $(), it’s a function that helps you easily select HTML elements, like document.querySelector(), but with a lot more functionality built in.
In your example, $(document).ready() is just a way of saying, “Wait until the document is fully loaded before running the function.”
Hope this clears things up for you! 
Hello @Shielagaa! Adding on to @alveera.khn’s excellent explanation! It truly is a great question, as this is a common point of confusion for newcomers.
The $ in javascript meaning is typically used as an alias for the jQuery() function in the jQuery library. It’s just a convention, not part of vanilla JavaScript.
In your case, $(document).ready() ensures that the JavaScript runs once the document is ready for manipulation, which makes it super handy when working with jQuery.
Hope this extra detail is helpful!
Hi @Shielagaa, @Alveera.Khn, and @Joe-Elmoufak,
Following this informative discussion about the $ symbol in JavaScript.
The $ in javascript meaning you’re seeing here is indeed from jQuery. It’s just a simple function, but it lets you select elements and perform actions on them more easily. So whenever you see $(), it’s like shorthand for a whole set of functions that can manipulate the DOM, handle events, and more.
In short, it’s a feature of jQuery, not a core JavaScript feature.
Hope this clarifies its origin! See ya!