[javascript] How to get the HTML for a DOM element in javascript

Imagine I have the following HTML:

<div><span><b>This is in bold</b></span></div>

I want to get the HTML for the div, including the div itself. Element.innerHTML only returns:

<span>...</span>

Any ideas? Thanks

var x = $('#container').get(0).outerHTML;

old question but for newcomers that come around :

document.querySelector('div').outerHTML

Use outerHTML:

var el = document.getElementById( 'foo' );
alert( el.outerHTML );

First, put on element that wraps the div in question, put an id attribute on the element and then use getElementById on it: once you've got the lement, just do 'e.innerHTML` to retrieve the HTML.

<div><span><b>This is in bold</b></span></div>

=> <div id="wrap"><div><span><b>This is in bold</b></span></div></div>

and then:

var e=document.getElementById("wrap");
var content=e.innerHTML;

Note that outerHTML is not cross-browser compatible.

as outerHTML is IE only, use this function:

function getOuterHtml(node) {
    var parent = node.parentNode;
    var element = document.createElement(parent.tagName);
    element.appendChild(node);
    var html = element.innerHTML;
    parent.appendChild(node);
    return html;
}

creates a bogus empty element of the type parent and uses innerHTML on it and then reattaches the element back into the normal dom

You'll want something like this for it to be cross browser.

function OuterHTML(element) {
    var container = document.createElement("div");
    container.appendChild(element.cloneNode(true));

    return container.innerHTML;
}

var el = document.getElementById('foo');
el.parentNode.innerHTML;

If you want a lighter footprint, but a longer script, get the elements innerHTML and only create and clone the empty parent-

function getHTML(who,lines){
    if(!who || !who.tagName) return '';

    var txt, ax, str, el= document.createElement('div');
    el.appendChild(who.cloneNode(false));
    txt= el.innerHTML;
    ax= txt.indexOf('>')+1;
    str= txt.substring(0, ax)+who.innerHTML+ txt.substring(ax);

    el= null;
    return lines? str.replace(/> *</g,'>\n<'): str;
    //easier to read if elements are separated
}

define function outerHTML based on support for element.outerHTML:

var temp_container = document.createElement("div"); // empty div not added to DOM
if (temp_container.outerHTML){
    var outerHTML = function(el){return el.outerHTML||el.nodeValue} // e.g. textnodes do not have outerHTML
  } else { // when .outerHTML is not supported
    var outerHTML = function(el){
      var clone = el.cloneNode(true);
      temp_container.appendChild(clone);
      outerhtml = temp_container.innerHTML;
      temp_container.removeChild(clone);
      return outerhtml;
    };
  };