how to set selected attribute in option for select drop down list

Question

here is the html code

<select id="privacy" onChange="run()">
   <option value="1" selected="selected" >public</option>
   <option value="2">contact</option>
</select>

for value=2, im selecting contact and this contact is appended in the list but its not showing as selected.below is the jquery code for appending but im not getting where to set this selected atrribute.

$('#privacy').append($('<option> ', {
          text: postcontact
}));

Answer 1

USe selected attribute like this way

$('#privacy').append($('<option> ', {
    text: "postcontact",
    selected: "selected"
}));

Answer 2

Try to use chaining at this context ,

$('#privacy').append($('<option> ', {text: postcontact ,value:2})).val(2);

or try this

$('#privacy').find("option").removeAttr("selected").end().append($('<option> ', {text: "postcontact" ,value:3,selected: "selected"})).val(3);