Check a radio button with javascript

Today, in the year 2016, it is safe to use document.querySelector without knowing the ID (especially if you have more than 2 radio buttons):

document.querySelector("input[name=main-categories]:checked").value

If you want to set the "1234" button, you need to use its "id":

document.getElementById("_1234").checked = true;

When you're using the browser API ("getElementById"), you don't use selector syntax; you just pass the actual "id" value you're looking for. You use selector syntax with jQuery or .querySelector() and .querySelectorAll().

Do not mix CSS/JQuery syntax (# for identifier) with native JS.

Native JS solution:

document.getElementById("_1234").checked = true;

JQuery solution:

$("#_1234").prop("checked", true);