select2/pages/12.programmatic-control/03.methods/docs.md

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title: Methods metadata:

description: Select2 has several built-in methods that allow programmatic control of the component. 

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category: docs

process:

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never_cache_twig: true

Select2 has several built-in methods that allow programmatic control of the component.

Opening the dropdown

Methods handled directly by Select2 can be invoked by passing the name of the method to .select2(...).

The open method will cause the dropdown menu to open, displaying the selectable options:

$('#mySelect2').select2('open');

Closing the dropdown

The close method will cause the dropdown menu to close, hiding the selectable options:

$('#mySelect2').select2('close');

Checking if the plugin is initialized

To test whether Select2 has been initialized on a particular DOM element, you can check for the select2-hidden-accessible class:

if ($('#mySelect2').hasClass("select2-hidden-accessible")) {
    // Select2 has been initialized
}

See this Stack Overflow answer).

Destroying the Select2 control

The destroy method will remove the Select2 widget from the target element. It will revert back to a standard select control:

$('#mySelect2').select2('destroy');

Examples

Single select Set "California" Open Close Destroy Re-initialize

Multiple select Set to California and Alabama Clear