Need to get table row's link attribute in JQuery and - php

Question

I have a table which I has links on each row. I am trying to use AJAX to retrieve an array of data from the database via PHP and return the data which will print in another DIV.
I am trying to get the attribute value (link ID) that I assign to each row and pass this value to the query. I am not able to get the link ID, it does not display when I test issuing an alert. I read several post and tried a few things but no good. The alert popup displays "undefined".
<tr id="mashed_row">
<td class="linked-title dark unpadded">
<?php echo $link['keywords']; ?>
</td></tr>
<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function(){
$('#mashed_row a').click(function () {
alert($(this).closest('tr').find('td').attr('link_id'));
});
});
</script>

Answer 1

You are trying to get td attr which is not there, try this, hope it helps :-
$(document).ready(function(){
$('#mashed_row a').click(function () {
alert($(this).attr('link_id'));
});
});
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.8.3/jquery.min.js"></script>
<table>
<tr id="mashed_row">
<td class="linked-title dark unpadded">
key words
</td>
</tr>
<table>

Answer 2

Simply use $(this).attr('link_id')
$(document).ready(function(){
$('#mashed_row a').click(function () {
alert($(this).attr('link_id'));
});
});

Answer 3

Your TD does not have a link_id attribute, your <a> has it. I've created an example showing both versions:
$(document).ready(function(){
$('#mashed_row a').click(function () {
console.log("TD:", $(this).closest('tr').find('td').attr('link_id'));
console.log("A:", $(this).closest('tr').find('a').attr('link_id'));
// or if you really want to get the attribute from the clicked item, it's even easier:
console.log("direct:", $(this).attr('link_id'));
});
});
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.0/jquery.min.js"></script>
<table>
<tr id="mashed_row">
<td class="linked-title dark unpadded" link_id="link_id_TD">
Hello
</td>
</tr>
</table>