How to get all the html inside a tag as it is using jquery?

Question

Consider this for example:

<div>
  A&
  <br>
  B
</div>

If I use $('div').html(), it returns A&<br>B. It converts A& into A& which I do not want.

If use use $('div').text(), it returns A&B. It ignores the <br> which I do not want either.

I'm looking for a way to get all the html inside the div without parsing it and without skipping over the tags like <br> either.

This is the result I want: A&<br>B. How do I achieve that?

And what's the problem with `&` ? That would be the correct response to getting the HTML — adeneo, Jan 16 '17 at 20:12
I need to get the content as it is. It will be used as input for C++ programs, etc. So I can't have it changed from & to & because the program would give a different output if the input changes from & to & — Harsha Reaper, Jan 16 '17 at 20:16
This can be done with a little vanilla js. Check out this answer. http://stackoverflow.com/a/7394787/5937428 — amflare, Jan 16 '17 at 20:21
@Legends - That would just be me copying someone else's work though. — amflare, Jan 16 '17 at 20:27
@Legends If the answer is in another question, it's likely that the question is a duplicate. Please don't suggest that people copy answers. — Heretic Monkey, Jan 16 '17 at 20:30
@MikeMcCaughan, then mark it as a duplicate, if it's the same question! You have the reputation to do that. — Legends, Jan 16 '17 at 20:32
As do you. You can click the flag link and mark it as a duplicate as well. — Heretic Monkey, Jan 16 '17 at 20:34
@MikeMcCaughan What actually happens with points received for answers on duplicate questions like the one below? And what happens with the question, will it get deleted? — Legends, Jan 16 '17 at 20:53
From [Why are some questions marked as duplicate?](http://stackoverflow.com/help/duplicates): *Some duplicate questions may eventually be deleted, but often they are left as a signpost pointing people towards the canonical answer to that question.* Reputation points are kept as is. — Heretic Monkey, Jan 16 '17 at 20:59
Points are kept? This motivates people to copy and post already existing answers as we can see here... Thanks for the info! — Legends, Jan 16 '17 at 21:05

tommybananas · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-16T20:30:02.833

4

function decodeEntities(encodedString) {
    var textArea = document.createElement('textarea');
    textArea.innerHTML = encodedString;
    return textArea.value;
}
console.log(decodeEntities($('div').first().html()))

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div>
  A&
  <br>
  B
</div>

EDIT

See also node.innerText https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Node/innerText

edited Jan 16 '17 at 20:30

answered Jan 16 '17 at 20:25

tommybananas

5,718
1
28
48

Thanks. innerText in vanilla javascript like you suggested earlier worked as well. I'll be using that. – Harsha Reaper Jan 16 '17 at 20:28
Thanks, I'll add it back for reference – tommybananas Jan 16 '17 at 20:29

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 16 '17 at 20:26

2

This is really a "hack" but it does work.

$("<textarea>").html($("div").html()).val()

answered Jan 16 '17 at 20:26

VKK

882
7
19

How to get all the html inside a tag as it is using jquery?

2 Answers2