html table - How do I force jQuery append to NOT automatically close a tag?

Question

I have a JavaScript object with about 1000 properties and want to create a <table> of these entries, with eight properties in a single row, <tr>.

I am using jQuery append(); however, it is automatically appending a closing </tr> tag. I want to manually define where the closing </tr> should go. How do I accomplish this?

The object:

var g2u = {};

g2u.a1 = "";
g2u.a2 = "";
g2u.a3 = "";
g2u.a4 = "";
g2u.a5 = "";
g2u.a5a = "";
g2u.a6 = "";
g2u.a6a = "";
g2u.a6b = "";
... etc...

The <table>:

<table id="list" border="1">
</table>

<script>
var ctr = 0;
$("#list").append('<tr>');

for (var g in g2u) {
  $("#list").append('<td><span class="rom">'+g+'</span>
');
  $("#list").append('<span class="eh">'+g2u[g]+'</span>
');
  $("#list").append('<span class="rom">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></td>
');
  ctr++;
  if (ctr % 8 == 0) {
    $("#list").append('</tr><tr>
');
  }
}

The broken output:

<tbody><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr><tr></tr></tbody>
<td><span class="rom">a1</span></td><span class="eh"></span><span class="rom">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><td><span class="rom">a2</span></td><span class="eh"></span><span class="rom">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><td><span class="rom">a3</span></td><span class="eh"></span><span class="rom">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><td><span class="rom">a4</span></td><span class="eh"></span><span class="rom">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><td><span class="rom">a5</span></td><span class="eh"></span><span class="rom">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><td><span class="rom">a5a</span></td><span class="eh"></span><span class="rom">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><td><span class="rom">a6</span></td><span class="eh"></span><span class="rom">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><td><span class="rom">a6a</span></td><span class="eh"></span><span class="rom">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><td><span class="rom">a6b</span></td><span class="eh"></span><span class="rom">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><td><span class="rom">a7</span></td><span class="eh"></span><span class="rom">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><td><span class="rom">a8</span></td><span class="eh"></span><span class="rom">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><td><span class="rom">a9</span></td><span class="eh"></span><span class="rom">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><td><span class="rom">a10</span></td><span class="eh"></span><span class="rom">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><td><span class="rom">a11</span></td><span class="eh"></span><span class="rom">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><td><span class="rom">a12</span></td><span class="eh"></span><span class="rom">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><td><span class="rom">a13</span></td><span class="eh"></span><span class="rom">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><td><span class="rom">a14</span></td><span class="eh"></span><span class="rom">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><td><span class="rom">a14a</span></td><span class="eh"></span><span class="rom">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><td><spa

Answer 1

If you append it will obviously try to close tags. Try to put your html in an string than append that string to the dom.

    <script>
    var ctr = 0;
    var html='<tr>';

    for (var g in g2u) {
      html+='<td><span class="rom">'+g+'</span>
';
      html+='<span class="eh">'+g2u[g]+'</span>
';
      html+='<span class="rom">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></td>
';
      ctr++;
      if (ctr % 8 == 0) {
        html+='</tr><tr>
';
      }
    }


     $("#list").append(html);