Question

this is what I’m trying to do:

var x = $("<div><div class='aaa' /></div>").find('.aaa').replaceWith("hi");
alert(x);

the result of the alert is object I need <div>hi</div>

Answer 1

.replaceWith returns removed element, so you need to save your initial object. Also you can’t rely on outerHTML property of the element.

var x = $("<div><div class='aaa' /></div>");
x.find('.aaa').replaceWith("hi");
var div = x.get(0);
alert("<" + div.tagName + ">" + div.innerHTML + "</" + div.tagName + ">");