Parse twitter urls, hashtags and usernames

gistfile1.js

parse_tweet = function (str) {
	var create_link = function (url, text) {
		var link = $("<a>", {
			text: text,
			href: url,
			target: "_blank"
		});

		return link.prop('outerHTML');
	};

	// parse URLs
	str = str.replace(/[A-Za-z]+:\/\/[A-Za-z0-9-_]+\.[A-Za-z0-9-_:%&~\?\/.=]+/g, function (s) {
		return create_link(s, s);
	});

	// parse username
	str = str.replace(/[@]+[A-Za-z0-9_]+/g, function (s) {
		return create_link("http://twitter.com/" + s.replace('@', ''), s);
	});

	// parse hashtags
	str = str.replace(/[#]+[A-Za-z0-9_]+/g, function (s) {
		return create_link("http://search.twitter.com/search?q=" + s.replace('#', ''), s);
	});

	return str;
};