JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<div data-sort="hello"></div>

JavaScript

var $div = $('div'),
    // get old data-sort
    oldSort = $div.attr('data-sort'),
    newSort
;

// change data-sort
$div.attr('data-sort', 'world');

// get new data-sort
newSort = $div.attr('data-sort');

alert(oldSort + "\n" + newSort);