jQuery CSS plugin that returns computed style of element to pseudo clone that element?

Question

I\'m looking for a way using jQuery to return an object of computed styles for the 1st matched element. I could then pass this object to another call of jQuery\'s css method

Answer 1

Multipurpose .css()

Usage

$('body').css();        // -> { ... } - returns all styles
$('body').css('*');     // -> { ... } - the same (more verbose)
$('body').css('color width height')  // -> { color: .., width: .., height: .. } - returns requested styles
$('div').css('width height', '100%')  // set width and color to 100%, returns self
$('body').css('color')  // -> '#000' - native behaviour

Code

(function($) {

    // Monkey-patching original .css() method
    var nativeCss = $.fn.css;

    var camelCase = $.camelCase || function(str) {
        return str.replace(/\-([a-z])/g, function($0, $1) { return $1.toUpperCase(); });
    };

    $.fn.css = function(name, value) {
        if (name == null || name === '*') {
            var elem = this.get(0), css, returns = {};
            if (window.getComputedStyle) {
                css = window.getComputedStyle(elem, null);
                for (var i = 0, l = css.length; i < l; i++) {
                    returns[camelCase(css[i])] = css.getPropertyValue(css[i]);
                }
                return returns;
            } else if (elem.currentStyle) {
                css = elem.currentStyle;
                for (var prop in css) {
                    returns[prop] = css[prop];
                }
            }
            return returns;
        } else if (~name.indexOf(' ')) {
            var names = name.split(/ +/);
            var css = {};
            for (var i = 0, l = names.length; i < l; i++) {
                css[names[i]] = nativeCss.call(this, names[i], value);
            }
            return arguments.length > 1 ? this : css;
        } else {
            return nativeCss.apply(this, arguments);
        }
    }

})(jQuery);

Main idea is taken from Dakota's & HexInteractive's answers.