Using jQuery to Change Label Text

To change label text using jQuery, the simplest way is to use the jQuery text() method:

$("label").text("Changed label");

You can also use the jQuery html() method to change the text of a label.

$("label").html("Changed label.");

Let’s say I have the following HTML:

<div id="div1">
  <label id="label-name" for="firstname">First Name:</label>
  <input type="text" id="fname" name="firstname">
</div>

If I want to change the text inside the label from “First Name:” to “Name:”, I can use the jQuery text() method to do this with the following Javascript code.

$("#label-name").text("Name:");

If you are using WordPress, don’t forget to change the $ to jQuery as below:

jQuery("#label-name").text("Name:");

We can also use the jQuery html() method to change the content of a span.

$("#label-name").html("Name:");

While the text() method is very simple, the html() method gives us the ability to insert html into our label, which gives us more options when styling the content.

Changing Label Text Using jQuery with a Click

Many times when creating a web page and the user experience, we want to change the text or content of a form or inputs after an interaction with another element on the web page.

To change the text of a label using jQuery, we can combine the text() method with a click event.

Let’s say I have the following HTML, and I want to give the user the ability to change the text of the span from “First Name” to “Name”.

<div id="div1">
  <div id="click-me">Click here to update the label below.</div>
  <label id="label-name" for="firstname">First Name:</label>>
  <input type="text" id="fname" name="firstname">
</div>

We can utilize both the jQuery click() method and jQuery text() method to change the text in the label from “First Name:” to “Name:”.

Below is the Javascript code which will allow the user to be able to update the text in the span:

$("#click-me").click(function(){
    $("#label-name").text("Name:");
}); 

The final code and output for this example of how to change a label’s text on click using the jQuery text() method and Javascript is below:

Code Output:

Full Code:

<div class="html-code-output">
<div id="div1">
  <div id="click-me">Click here to update the label below.</div>
  <label id="label-name" for="firstname">First Name:</label>
  <input type="text" id="fname" name="firstname">
</div>
</div>

<script>

$("#click-me").click(function(){
    $("#label-name").text("Name:");
});

</script>

Using the html() Method to Change a Label’s Text

The jQuery html() method is very useful when it comes to manipulating web pages.

We can use the jQuery html() method to change the html and text of a label.

Let’s say we have the following code:

<div id="div1">
  <div id="click-me">Click here to update the label below.</div>
  <label id="label-name" for="firstname">First Name:</label>>
  <input type="text" id="fname" name="firstname">
</div>

If we want to make the text “First” bold, we can do this easily utilizing both the jQuery click() method and jQuery html() method.

Below is the Javascript code which will allow the user to be change the html content and text in the label.

$("#click-me").click(function(){
    $("#label-name").html("<strong>First</strong> Name:");
});

The final code and output for this example of how to change html and text of a label using the jQuery html() method and Javascript is below:

Code Output:

Full Code:

<div class="html-code-output">
<div id="div1">
  <div id="click-me">Click here to update the label below.</div>
  <label id="label-name" for="firstname">First Name:</label>
  <input type="text" id="fname" name="firstname">
</div>
</div>

<script>

$("#click-me").click(function(){
    $("#label-name").html("<strong>First</strong> Name:");
});

</script>

Hopefully this article has been useful for you to understand how to change text of a label using jQuery.