Theres no shorthand way in vue 2.
Jeff’s method seems already deprecated in vue 2.
Heres another way u can achieve your goal.
var app = new Vue({
el:'#app',
methods: {
showMyDiv() {
console.log(this.$refs.myDiv);
}
}
});<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/vue@2.5.16/dist/vue.js"></script>
<div id='app'>
<div id="myDiv" ref="myDiv"></div>
<button v-on:click="showMyDiv" >Show My Div</button>
</div>