Select an element when the class name starts with a certain word

It is called the Attribute Starts With Selector. My example sets a red text color on the elements:

$('[class^="tab"]').css('color', 'red');

jsFiddle Demo

Please note that if the elements have more than one class and the other precedes the one with tab inside (class="nyedva tab231891230") the element won't be selected by this selector.

If you want to select even these, you can use this example:

$('.home div').filter(function () {
    return this.className.match(/\btab/);
}).css('color', 'red');

jsFiddle Demo

If you have multiple class inside one element, use this to select

$("[class*='tab']");

It will work with element like this

<div class="home">
<div class="module tab231891230"></div>
<div class="module tab121232441"></div>
<div class="module tab123134545"></div>

Reference : jquery attribute-contains selector

You can do it like this:

$('div[class^="tab"]');

See http://api.jquery.com/attribute-starts-with-selector/