Convert string into jQuery object and select inner element

Question

I wonder if there is a way to convert string into jQuery object and select inner elements without injecting the whole string into DOM and manipulate it in there. Thanks.

If possible, please give me example of converting

<div id=a1></div>
<div id=a3></div>

And select a1 from the object variable.

Answer 1

This will create elements from the html and find the a1 element:

var element = $('<div id="a1"></div><div id="a3"></div>').filter('#a1').get(0);

Answer 2

The correct way to do this is:

var a1 = $('<div id="a1"></div><div id="a3"></div>').filter('#a1')[0];

Getting the DOM element out with [0] is equivalent to .get(0).

Update: interesting, I've never come across this corner case before but this:

var a1 = $("#a1", "<div id=a1><//div><div id=a3><//div>")[0];

doesn't work when the element is at the top level, which I consider to be a bug. I've never come across that before so I thought I'd leave it up here as a cautionary tale. Thanks to Crescent Fresh for pointing that out.