Calculating text width

Question

I\'m trying to calculate text width using jQuery. I\'m not sure what, but I am definitely doing something wrong.

So, here is the code:

var c = $(\'.c         


        

Answer 1

Expanding on @philfreo's answer:

I've added the ability to check for text-transform, as things like text-transform: uppercase usually tend to make the text wider.

$.fn.textWidth = function (text, font, transform) {
    if (!$.fn.textWidth.fakeEl) $.fn.textWidth.fakeEl = $('').hide().appendTo(document.body);
    $.fn.textWidth.fakeEl.text(text || this.val() || this.text())
        .css('font', font || this.css('font'))
        .css('text-transform', transform || this.css('text-transform'));
    return $.fn.textWidth.fakeEl.width();
};