Can I $.wrap() around a collection of elements in an array?

Answer 1

Use wrapAll instead of wrap.

$(".group").wrapAll('
');

Documentation of wrapAll can be found at - http://api.jquery.com/wrapAll/

Other wrapping methods available can be found at - http://api.jquery.com/category/manipulation/dom-insertion-around/

EDIT:

For the complex case where there can be more than one groups, we can achieve it using wrapAll with a $.each as follows -

var group = [];
        $(".item").each(
          function(i, item) {            
            if ($(item).hasClass("group")) {
                group.push(item);
            }
            else {
                $(group).wrapAll('
');
                group = [];
            }
          }
        );