To get the contents of the attribute data-id (like in <a data-id="123">link</a>) you have to use

$(this).attr("data-id") // will return the string "123"

or .data() (if you use newer jQuery >= 1.4.3)

$(this).data("id") // will return the number 123

and the part after data- must be lowercase, e.g. data-idNum will not work, but data-idnum will.

If we want to retrieve or update these attributes using existing, native JavaScript, then we can do so using the getAttribute and setAttribute methods as shown below:

Through JavaScript

<div id='strawberry-plant' data-fruit='12'></div>

<script>
// 'Getting' data-attributes using getAttribute
var plant = document.getElementById('strawberry-plant');
var fruitCount = plant.getAttribute('data-fruit'); // fruitCount = '12'

// 'Setting' data-attributes using setAttribute
plant.setAttribute('data-fruit','7'); // Pesky birds
</script>

Through jQuery

// Fetching data
var fruitCount = $(this).data('fruit');
OR 
// If you updated the value, you will need to use below code to fetch new value 
// otherwise above gives the old value which is intially set.
// And also above does not work in ***Firefox***, so use below code to fetch value
var fruitCount = $(this).attr('data-fruit');

// Assigning data
$(this).attr('data-fruit','7');

Read this documentation

Important note. Keep in mind, that if you adjust the data- attribute dynamically via JavaScript it will NOT be reflected in the data() jQuery function. You have to adjust it via data() function as well.

<a data-id="123">link</a>

js:

$(this).data("id") // returns 123
$(this).attr("data-id", "321"); //change the attribute
$(this).data("id") // STILL returns 123!!!
$(this).data("id", "321")
$(this).data("id") // NOW we have 321

If you are not concerned about old IE browsers, you can also use HTML5 dataset API

HTML

<div id="my-div" data-info="some info here" data-other-info="more info here">My Awesome Div</div>

JS

var myDiv = document.querySelector('#my-div');

myDiv.dataset.info // "some info here"
myDiv.dataset.otherInfo // "more info here"

Demo: http://html5demos.com/dataset

Full browser support list: http://caniuse.com/#feat=dataset

HTML

<span id="spanTest" data-value="50">test</span>

JS

$(this).data().value;

or

$("span#spanTest").data().value;

ANS : 50

Works for me!

I use $.data - http://api.jquery.com/jquery.data/

//Set value 7 to data-id 
$.data(this, 'id', 7);

//Get value from data-id
alert( $(this).data("id") ); // => outputs 7

var id = $(this).dataset.id

works for me!

Surprised no one mentioned:

<select id="selectVehicle">
     <option value="1" data-year="2011">Mazda</option>
     <option value="2" data-year="2015">Honda</option>
     <option value="3" data-year="2008">Mercedes</option>
     <option value="4" data-year="2005">Toyota</option>
    </select>

$("#selectVehicle").change(function () {
     alert($(this).find(':selected').data("year"));
});

Here is the working example: https://jsfiddle.net/ed5axgvk/1/

Accessing data attribute with its own id is bit easy for me.

$("#Id").data("attribute");

function myFunction(){
  alert($("#button1").data("sample-id"));
}

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>

<button type="button" id="button1" data-sample-id="gotcha!" onclick="myFunction()"> Clickhere </button>

using jQuery:

  $( ".myClass" ).load(function() {
    var myId = $(this).data("id");
    $('.myClass').attr('id', myId);
  });

This piece of code will return the value of the data attributes eg: data-id, data-time, data-name etc.., I have shown for the id

<a href="#" id="click-demo" data-id="a1">Click</a>

js:

$(this).data("id");

// get the value of the data-id -> a1

$(this).data("id", "a2");

// this will change the data-id -> a2

$(this).data("id");

// get the value of the data-id -> a2