Can't find element with jquery
<p>I have a list of <code>p</code> tags on the page with id's like:</p>

<pre><code>item_1
item_2
item_3
etc.
</code></pre>

<p>In jquery function I build string for id and than I want to change some value on it but it seams that jquery can't find element with this id, but it's there on the page:</p>

<pre><code>...
var itemId = '#item_' + itemId;
                            if ($(itemId).length &gt; 0) {
                                alert("exist");
                            }
...
</code></pre>

<p>Id is fine in itemId variable. Am I doing something wrong here maybe my approach is wrong?
Markup</p>

<pre><code>&lt;div&gt;
       &lt;a href="#"&gt;&lt;p id="item_283"&gt;Counter&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
</code></pre>
