Untitled

Parent(), faster alternative?
<div id="6179827893" class="dashdiv">
   <div class="buttons">
     <li><a href="#" class="btn1">Button 1</a></li>
     <li><a href="#" class="btn2">Button 2</a></li>
     <li><a href="#" class="btn3">Button 3</a></li>
     <li><a href="#" class="btn4">Button 4</a></li>
     <li><a href="#" class="btn5">Button 5</a></li>
     <li><a href="#" class="btn6">Button 6</a></li>
   </div>
   <div class="dashcontent">

    ....

   </div>
</div>

Method (see below) : Operations per second (higher is better)
parentNode3x       : 4447k
$(parentNode3x)    :  204K
$().closest        :   35k
$().parents        :    9k
$().parent()3x     :   44k

// Likely the fastest way, because no overhead of jQuery is involved.
var id = this.parentNode.parentNode.parentNode.id;

// Alternative methods to select the 3rd parent:
$(this.parentNode.parentNode.parentNode) // Native DOM, wrapped in jQuery

// Slowpokes
$(this).closest('.dashdiv')              // Hmm.
$(this).parents('.dashdiv:first')        // Hmm...

var id = this.parentNode.parentNode.parentNode.id;

$(this).closest('div.dashdiv').prop('id');

$('.dashdiv').click(function(e) {
    if( e.target.nodeName.toLowerCase() === 'a' ) {
        alert( this.id );
    }
});