Get the string representation of a DOM node

Question

Javascript: I have the DOM representation of a node (element or document) and I\'m looking for the string representation of it. E.g.,

var el = document.creat         


        

Answer 1

What you're looking for is 'outerHTML', but wee need a fallback coz it's not compatible with old browsers.

var getString = (function() {
  var DIV = document.createElement("div");

  if ('outerHTML' in DIV)
    return function(node) {
      return node.outerHTML;
    };

  return function(node) {
    var div = DIV.cloneNode();
    div.appendChild(node.cloneNode(true));
    return div.innerHTML;
  };

})();

// getString(el) == "
Test
"

You'll find my jQuery plugin here: Get selected element's outer HTML