Possible Duplicate:
Getting the value of the selected option tag in a select box
For a SELECT box, how do I get the value and text of the selected item in jQuery?
For example,
<option value="value">text</option>
<select id="ddlViewBy">
<option value="value">text</option>
</select>
JQuery
var txt = $("#ddlViewBy option:selected").text();
var val = $("#ddlViewBy option:selected").val();