.clone( [withDataAndEvents ] ) Returns: jQuery
Description: Create a deep copy of the set of matched elements.
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version added: 1.0.clone( [withDataAndEvents ] )
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withDataAndEvents (default:
false
)Type: BooleanA Boolean indicating whether event handlers should be copied along with the elements. As of jQuery 1.4, element data will be copied as well.
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version added: 1.5.clone( [withDataAndEvents ] [, deepWithDataAndEvents ] )
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withDataAndEvents (default:
false
)Type: BooleanA Boolean indicating whether event handlers and data should be copied along with the elements. The default value isfalse
. *In jQuery 1.5.0 the default value was incorrectlytrue
; it was changed back tofalse
in 1.5.1 and up. -
deepWithDataAndEvents (default:
value of withDataAndEvents
)Type: BooleanA Boolean indicating whether event handlers and data for all children of the cloned element should be copied. By default its value matches the first argument's value (which defaults tofalse
).
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The .clone()
method performs a deep copy of the set of matched elements, meaning that it copies the matched elements as well as all of their descendant elements and text nodes. When used in conjunction with one of the insertion methods, .clone()
is a convenient way to duplicate elements on a page. Consider the following HTML:
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As shown in the discussion for .append()
, normally when an element is inserted somewhere in the DOM, it is moved from its old location. So, given the code:
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The resulting DOM structure would be:
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To prevent this and instead create a copy of the element, you could write the following:
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This would produce:
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Note: When using the
.clone()
method, you can modify the cloned elements or their contents before (re-)inserting them into the document.
Normally, any event handlers bound to the original element are not copied to the clone. The optional withDataAndEvents
parameter allows us to change this behavior, and to instead make copies of all of the event handlers as well, bound to the new copy of the element. As of jQuery 1.4, all element data (attached by the .data()
method) is also copied to the new copy.
However, objects and arrays within element data are not copied and will continue to be shared between the cloned element and the original element. To deep copy all data, copy each one manually:
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As of jQuery 1.5, withDataAndEvents
can be optionally enhanced with deepWithDataAndEvents
to copy the events and data for all children of the cloned element.
Note: Using
.clone()
has the side-effect of producing elements with duplicateid
attributes, which are supposed to be unique. Where possible, it is recommended to avoid cloning elements with this attribute or usingclass
attributes as identifiers instead.
Examples:
Example: Clones all b elements (and selects the clones) and prepends them to all paragraphs.
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Example: When using .clone()
to clone a collection of elements that are not attached to the DOM, their order when inserted into the DOM is not guaranteed. However, it may be possible to preserve sort order with a workaround, as demonstrated:
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