how to write a 'double' and a 'ntimes' directive for angularjs?

Question

I am having trouble understand the 'ngRepeat' directive so I wish to learn how angularjs works by writing a 'double' directive and then extending with an 'ntimes' directive: so

'double'

<double>
 <h1>Hello World</h1>
</double>

would result in producing:

 <h1>Hello World</h1>
 <h1>Hello World</h1>

'ntimes'

<ntimes repeat=10>
 <h1>Hello World</h1>
</ntimes>

would result in producing:

 <h1>Hello World</h1> 
 .... 8 more times....
 <h1>Hello World</h1> 

Answer 1

<double>
 <h1>Hello World - 2</h1>
</double>

<ntimes repeat=10>
    <h1>Hello World - 10</h1>
    <h4>More text</h4>
</ntimes>

The directives below will remove the <double>, </double>, <ntimes ...> and </ntimes> tags:

var app = angular.module('app', []);
app.directive('double', function() {
    return {
        restrict: 'E',
        compile: function(tElement, attrs) {
            var content = tElement.children();
            tElement.append(content.clone());
            tElement.replaceWith(tElement.children());
        }
    }
});
app.directive('ntimes', function() {
    return {
        restrict: 'E',
        compile: function(tElement, attrs) {
            var content = tElement.children();
            for (var i = 0; i < attrs.repeat - 1; i++) {
                tElement.append(content.clone());
            }
            tElement.replaceWith(tElement.children());
        }
    }
});​

Fiddle

I used a compile function rather than a linking function because it seemed like only template DOM manipulation was required.

Update: I like this implementation of the ntimes compile function better:

compile: function(tElement, attrs) {
    var content = tElement.children();
    var repeatedContent = content.clone();
    for (var i = 2; i <= attrs.repeat; i++) {
        repeatedContent.append(content.clone());
    }
    tElement.replaceWith(repeatedContent);
}

Answer 2

The ng-repeat directive is mainly used to iterate over items on lists/arrays/collections (i.e. ng-repeat="item in list") and does much more than simply cloning elements. Please take a look at angularjs ng-repeat directive documentation.

If you really just want to clone elements, try something like this: http://jsfiddle.net/hp9d7/