<div id="id_of_the_element" data-attribute_name="foo"></div>
var elem = document.getElementById("id_of_the_element");
var attribute_value = elem.getAttribute("data-attribute_name");
//OR with jquery...
var attribute_value = $('#id_of_the_element').attr('data-attribute_name');
//OR...
var attribute_value = $('#id_of_the_element').data('attribute_name');
2nd example
//HTML
//<div id="elem" data-id="4hJ3s"></div>
var elem = document.getElementById("elem");
elem.getAttribute("data-id"); // "4hJ3s"