How to do this using jQuery – document.getElementById(“selectlist”).value

“Equivalent” is the word here

While…

$('#selectlist').val();

…is equivalent to…

document.getElementById("selectlist").value

…it’s worth noting that…

$('#selectlist')

…although ‘equivalent’ is not the same as…

document.getElementById("selectlist")

…as the former returns a jQuery object, not a DOM object.

To get the DOM object(s) from the jQuery one, use the following:

$('#selectlist').get(); //get all DOM objects in the jQuery collection
$('#selectlist').get(0); //get the DOM object in the jQuery collection at index 0
$('#selectlist')[0]; //get the DOM objects in the jQuery collection at index 0