jQuery(function() { jQuery("#tags2").autocomplete({ source: function(request,response) { var requestIndex = 0; alert('Request: "'+request.term+'"'); $.ajax({ url: "test_autoc.pl", type: 'POST', data: "term=" + request.term, processData: false, contentType: "application/json; charset=ISO-8859-1", dataType: "text/plain", cache: false, autocompleteRequest: requestIndex += 1, success: function(data,status) { if (this.autocompleteRequest === requestIndex) { response(data); } }, error: function() { if (this.autocompleteRequest === requestIndex) { response([]); } } }); }, minLength: 2 }); });