How to check if an element matches a selector?

How to check if an element matches a selector?

Hello,
is there any way one can test if an element matches a jQuery selector?
I'm not trying to locate elements, just test for match.

More specifically, when using event delegation and a common callback 
function for multiple events, is there a way to check the event's 
currentTarget against a selector? 

In the following example, how can I check if the currentTarget is 
the LI node with class "item2"?











  1. <!DOCTYPE html>
    <html>
    <head>
      <script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-latest.min.js"></script>
    </head>
    <body>
      <ul id="#foo">
        <li class="item1">Item1</li>
        <li class="item2">Item2</li>
      </ul>
      <p id="#bar">Paragraph</p>

    <script>
    $(function() {
      $("body").delegate("li, p", "click", function(e) {
        if (e.currentTarget.nodeName == "P") { //works
          //do something for p
        }
        else if (e.currentTarget.nodeName == "LI" &&
                 $(e.currentTarget).attr("class") == "item2") { //works, but ugly
          //do something for item2
        }
      });
    });
    </script>
    </body>
    </html>





























This works but will also match the LI item with class "item1":



  1. if ($(e.currentTarget).parent().find(">LI.item2").length

I would like to use a selector to check to element against, something like:


  1. if ($(e.currentTarget).test(">LI.item2").length

that checks if the elements match the selector.


Cheers,
Tomas