What is returned by jQuery append? -

this partly honest question, partly rant. suppose have html

<ol id="t"></ol> 

and jquery code

var x = $('#t').append('test'); var y = x.append('<ol>hello</ol>'); x.append('hello2'); y.append('hello3'); 

what should expect see? tried here. http://jsfiddle.net/a7j5nw9z/ , appears me append function returns this. in other words x.append('foo') appears return x. checked jquery documentation both here , here. return value undocumented. can safely assume all jquery functions return this unless otherwise documented? documented somewhere? glancing through jquery docs, , lots of functions have undefined return values.

directly docs:

most frequently, use jquery() function create jquery object. jquery() can accessed familiar single-character alias of $(), unless have called jquery.noconflict() disable option. many jquery methods return jquery object itself, method calls can chained:

in api calls return jquery, value returned original jquery object unless otherwise documented api. api methods such .filter() or .not() modify incoming set , return new jquery object.

emphasis mine; , in fact append() returns jquery.