Can I use jQuery selectors on an HTML string that is not attached to the DOM?

Question

So if I have a variable like

var ht = \"
Paragraph Here
\"

If it was attached to the DOM I could

Answer 1

The jQuery object will take HTML and make it in to a DOM structure for further query, you can pass it in directly to create the object, or use it as a context if you just wish to query it.

Edit: For some reason it seems necessary to wrap it in a DIV, if not already within one in this example. See the jQuery object documentation on this method for further information.

See test framework for system at: http://jsfiddle.net/hUMqU/

var ht = "
Paragraph Here
";
$('
' + ht + '
').find('p').text();

or as context:

var ht = "
Paragraph Here
";
$('p', '
' + ht + '
').text();