Question

var a = $('<div id="a" />');
a.before($('<div id="b" />'));
console.log(a);

Why do I see the [<div id=​"a">​</div>​] as a result and not [<div id=​"b">​</div>​,<div id=​"a">​</div>​]?

And how to get the expected result (2 objects) in a variable?

Sample on jsfiddle

UPD:

I already have a so I need to modify it. var a = $('<div id="b" /><div id="a" />'); unfortunately is not a solution

UPD 2:

The sample code above is oversimplified (in comparison to real life application), so in real project it is possible case that both elements don’t have id or any other attribute I can sort by 🙁

Answer 1

That is because a contains only one element(a). If you want the expected result try this

var a = $('<div id="a" />');
a.before($('<div id="b" />'));
console.log(a.add(a.prev()).toArray().reverse());

Demo