if your wanting to use jQuery for this, try the following code.

$('select option[value="1"]').attr("selected",true);

Updated:

Following a comment from Vivek, correctly pointed out steven spielberg wanted to select the option via its Text value.

Here below is the updated code.

$('select option:contains("it\'s me")').prop('selected',true);

You need to use the :contains(text) selector to find via the containing text.

Also jQuery prop offeres better support for Internet Explorer when getting and setting attributes.

A working example on JSFiddle

You can just do this:

$('#myCombobox').val(1)

val() should handle both cases

  <option value="1">it's me</option>      


$('select').val('1'); // selects "it's me"

$('select').val("it's me"); // also selects "it's me"