jquery: switch Elements in DOM

Question

What the best way to switch two elements in DOM with jquery?

<div id="switchme2">some other elements in here....</div>
<div class="some other elements"></div>
<div id="switchme1">some other elements in here....</div>

should end in:

<div id="switchme1">some other elements in here....</div>
<div class="some other elements"></div>
<div id="switchme2">some other elements in here....</div>

Answer 1

You'll get people telling you to use jQuery's before, after, and such, but beware, that can mess things up if there are text nodes on either side of either element (more on that below).

Because of that (and for people not using jQuery), you can just use the DOM directly:

function swapElements(elm1, elm2) {
    var parent1, next1,
        parent2, next2;

    parent1 = elm1.parentNode;
    next1   = elm1.nextSibling;
    parent2 = elm2.parentNode;
    next2   = elm2.nextSibling;

    parent1.insertBefore(elm2, next1);
    parent2.insertBefore(elm1, next2);
}

Note that it's fine if the reference element (next1 or next2 above) is null; insertBefore handles that correctly (by adding at the end of the parent, like appendChild would).

Usage combined with jQuery:

swapElements($("#switchme1")[0], $("#switchme2")[0]);

Live example:

jQuery(function($) {
  
    function swapElements(elm1, elm2, elm3, elm4, elm5) {
        var parent1, next1,
            parent2, next2,
            parent3, next3,
            parent4, next4,
            parent5, next5;

        parent1 = elm1.parentNode;
        next1   = elm1.nextSibling;
        parent2 = elm2.parentNode;
        next2   = elm2.nextSibling;
        parent3 = elm3.parentNode;
        next3   = elm3.nextSibling;
        parent4 = elm4.parentNode;
        next4   = elm4.nextSibling;
        parent5 = elm5.parentNode;
        next5   = elm5.nextSibling;

        parent1.insertBefore(elm2, next1);
        parent2.insertBefore(elm3, next2);
        parent3.insertBefore(elm4, next3);
        parent4.insertBefore(elm5, next4);
        parent5.insertBefore(elm1, next5);
    }

    $("#btnSwitch").click(function() {
        swapElements($("#switchme1")[0], $("#switchme2")[0], $("#switchme3")[0], $("#switchme4")[0], $("#switchme5")[0]);
    });
  
});

first text node
<div id="switchme1">this is <strong>switchme1</strong> with <strong>some other elements</strong> <em>in here<div>test</div></em></div>
second text node
<div id="switchme2">this is <strong>switchme2</strong> with <strong>some other elements</strong> <em>in here</em></div>
<div id="switchme3">this is <strong>switchme3</strong> with <strong>some other elements</strong> <em>in here</em></div>
<div id="switchme4">this is <strong>switchme4</strong> with <strong>some other elements</strong> <em>in here</em></div>
<div id="switchme5">this is <strong>switchme5</strong> with <strong>some other elements</strong> <em>in here</em></div>
third text node
<input type="button" id="btnSwitch" value="Switch Em!">
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.11.1/jquery.min.js"></script>