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# selectItem(at:)

Selects the item in the menu at the specified index.

```
func selectItem(at index: Int)
```

## Parameters

`index`

The index of the item you want to select, or `-1` you want to deselect all menu items.

## Discussion

By default, selecting or deselecting a menu item from a pop-up menu changes its state. Selecting a menu item from a pull-down menu does not automatically alter the state of the item. To disassociate the current selection from the state of menu items, set the [`altersStateOfSelectedItem`](/documentation/AppKit/NSPopUpButtonCell/altersStateOfSelectedItem) property to <doc://com.apple.documentation/documentation/Swift/false>.

Subclassers can override this method to catch all select calls.

## See Also

[`altersStateOfSelectedItem`](/documentation/AppKit/NSPopUpButtonCell/altersStateOfSelectedItem)

A Boolean value that indicates if the pop-up button links the state of the selected menu item to the current selection.


---

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