Find element at HTML string

Question

Let's suppose I have

var testHTML = "<div id='demo_div'></div>";

I want to get above div as JQuery object to manipulate with it. I try to find it with:

 var found = $(testHTML).find("#demo_div");

and with:

 var found = $(testHTML).find("div");

Both without luck. I have empty found variable. What am I do wrong?

P.S. Yes I know I can have direct access to my div with

$("#demo_div")

but I can't do it in my case - I need to get it from plain HTML that will be assigned to some variable just like in my example with testHTML var.

UPDATE: Even if I have not root div element like here:

var testHTML = "<html><div id='demo_div'></div></html>";

I can't use find for navigating div element.

James Allardice · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-16 09:05:26Z

51

The problem is that your div is the root element in the collection, so you need to use .filter() instead of .find() (which only looks at descendant elements):

var found = $(testHTML).filter("#demo_div");

I'm assuming your actual HTML string is more complex than the one in the question, otherwise you don't need to do anything other than $(testHTML) and you will have a jQuery object containing that single element.

answered Nov 16, 2012 at 9:05

James Allardice

166k22 gold badges335 silver badges315 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

3 Comments

Michael Z Over a year ago

Yes I have more complex HTML and my div is not the root of it. But find is not work there!

James Allardice Over a year ago

@MichaelZ - Then your problem is most likely elsewhere. If the element you are looking for is at the root of the collection, use .filter(), if it's not, use .find(). See this example.

James Allardice Over a year ago

@MichaelZ - jQuery strips out the <html> element, so your div is actually the root.

Manoj De Mel · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-07 04:59:41Z

1

You could use the .search() function of the javascript itself.

testHTML.search('demo_div')>-1

answered Sep 7, 2017 at 4:59

Manoj De Mel

1,02310 silver badges17 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Find element at HTML string

2 Answers 2

3 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

3 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related