Protractor “by.css()” vs “$()” Dollar Sign vs “$$()” ‘Bling Bling’

$ and $$ are just convenient shortcuts.

$("selector") is an alternative for element(by.css("selector")).

$$("selector") is an alternative for element.all(by.css("selector")).

FYI, quote from the source code:

ElementFinder.prototype.$ = function(selector) {
  return this.element(webdriver.By.css(selector));
};

ElementArrayFinder.prototype.$$ = function(selector) {
  return this.all(webdriver.By.css(selector));
};

And the actual commit that initially made it happen.