Question

Say I have

$(":input[type=text]:first")

How do I get

<input type="text" value="" size="28" maxlength="140" tabindex="1" placeholder="search" class="textbox" name="q" autocomplete="off">

Assuming I run this on SO?

Update I don’t want to call .parent() since I have lots of other stuff in the parent element.

Answer 1

An old trick:

var selector = ":input[type=text]:first";

var str = $(selector).clone().wrap('<div/>').parent().html();

Update You don’t need to worry about calling .parent() since you’re working with an orphaned clone of the original selector.