Use jQuery to change an HTML tag?

Question

Once a dom element is created, the tag is immutable, I believe. You'd have to do something like this:

$(this).replaceWith($('<h5>' + this.innerHTML + '</h5>'));

Here's an extension that will do it all, on as many elements in as many ways...

Example usage:

keep existing class and attributes:

$('div#change').replaceTag('<span>', true);

or

Discard existing class and attributes:

$('div#change').replaceTag('<span class=newclass>', false);

or even

replace all divs with spans, copy classes and attributes, add extra class name

$('div').replaceTag($('<span>').addClass('wasDiv'), true);

Plugin Source:

$.extend({
    replaceTag: function (currentElem, newTagObj, keepProps) {
        var $currentElem = $(currentElem);
        var i, $newTag = $(newTagObj).clone();
        if (keepProps) {//{{{
            newTag = $newTag[0];
            newTag.className = currentElem.className;
            $.extend(newTag.classList, currentElem.classList);
            $.extend(newTag.attributes, currentElem.attributes);
        }//}}}
        $currentElem.wrapAll($newTag);
        $currentElem.contents().unwrap();
        // return node; (Error spotted by Frank van Luijn)
        return this; // Suggested by ColeLawrence
    }
});

$.fn.extend({
    replaceTag: function (newTagObj, keepProps) {
        // "return" suggested by ColeLawrence
        return this.each(function() {
            jQuery.replaceTag(this, newTagObj, keepProps);
        });
    }
});

Rather than change the type of tag, you should be changing the style of the tag (or rather, the tag with a specific id.) Its not a good practice to be changing the elements of your document to apply stylistic changes. Try this:

$('a.change').click(function() {
    $('p#changed').css("font-weight", "bold");
});

<p id="changed">Hello!</p>
<a id="change">change</a>

I noticed that the first answer wasn't quite what I needed, so I made a couple of modifications and figured I'd post it back here.

Improved replaceTag(<tagName>)

replaceTag(<tagName>, [withDataAndEvents], [withDataAndEvents])

Arguments:

• tagName: String
  • The tag name e.g. "div", "span", etc.
• withDataAndEvents: Boolean
  • "A Boolean indicating whether event handlers should be copied along with the elements. As of jQuery 1.4, element data will be copied as well." info
• deepWithDataAndEvents: Boolean,
  • A Boolean indicating whether event handlers and data for all children of the cloned element should be copied. By default its value matches the first argument's value (which defaults to false)." info

Returns:

A newly created jQuery element

Okay, I know there are a few answers here now, but I took it upon myself to write this again.

Here we can replace the tag in the same way we use cloning. We are following the same syntax as .clone() with the withDataAndEvents and deepWithDataAndEvents which copy the child nodes' data and events if used.

Example:

$tableRow.find("td").each(function() {
  $(this).clone().replaceTag("li").appendTo("ul#table-row-as-list");
});

Source:

$.extend({
    replaceTag: function (element, tagName, withDataAndEvents, deepWithDataAndEvents) {
        var newTag = $("<" + tagName + ">")[0];
        // From [Stackoverflow: Copy all Attributes](http://stackoverflow.com/a/6753486/2096729)
        $.each(element.attributes, function() {
            newTag.setAttribute(this.name, this.value);
        });
        $(element).children().clone(withDataAndEvents, deepWithDataAndEvents).appendTo(newTag);
        return newTag;
    }
})
$.fn.extend({
    replaceTag: function (tagName, withDataAndEvents, deepWithDataAndEvents) {
        // Use map to reconstruct the selector with newly created elements
        return this.map(function() {
            return jQuery.replaceTag(this, tagName, withDataAndEvents, deepWithDataAndEvents);
        })
    }
})

Note that this does not replace the selected element, it returns the newly created one.

Idea is to wrap the element & unwrap the contents:

function renameElement($element,newElement){

    $element.wrap("<"+newElement+">");
    $newElement = $element.parent();

    //Copying Attributes
    $.each($element.prop('attributes'), function() {
        $newElement.attr(this.name,this.value);
    });

    $element.contents().unwrap();       

    return $newElement;
}

Sample usage:

renameElement($('p'),'h5');

Demo