Enable or disable an input field with jQuery

Using jQuery prop() method you can enable or disable a form element. From jQuery 1.6+ you can use jQuery prop() method.

You can enable or disable an elements on a page dynamically with jQuery by setting their attributes accordingly.

For jQuery 1.5 and below the .prop() function doesn’t exist, but .attr() method does similar thing.

Disable a Control:

$( "#elementID" ).prop( "disabled", true );

Enable a Control:

$( "#elementID" ).prop( "disabled", false );

Also Read:

• Select an element with multiple classes in jQuery
• How to disable jQuery animations

Using .attr():

Set the disabled attribute:

$("input").attr('disabled','disabled');

To enable again you can use .removeAttr():

$("input").removeAttr('disabled');

This will totally remove the disabled attribute from the element instead of blanking it out.

Read jQuery reference for more details.