A jQuery plugin to retrieve the outerHTML of an element

jquery.outerhtml.js

/*! Copyright (c) 2006 Brandon Aaron (brandon.aaron@gmail.com || http://brandonaaron.net)
 * Dual licensed under the MIT (http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php) 
 * and GPL (http://www.opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php) licenses.
 */

(function($){
  var div;
  
  $.fn.outerHTML = function() {
    var elem = this[0],
      tmp;
    
    return !elem ? null
      : typeof ( tmp = elem.outerHTML ) === 'string' ? tmp
      : ( div = div || $('<div/>') ).html( this.eq(0).clone() ).html();
  };
  
})(jQuery);