jQuery extension to get sub HTML of a node

getSubHtml.js

jQuery.fn.getSubHtml = function( startHtml, endHtml, node ) {
	var $this = jQuery(this);
	var $html = $this.html();

	startHtml = startHtml.replace( /<\//g, '<\\/' ).trim();
	endHtml = endHtml.replace( /<\//g, '<\\/' ).trim();

	var startHtmlRegEx = new RegExp( startHtml );
	var endHtmlRegEx = new RegExp( endHtml );

	if ( $html.search( startHtmlRegEx ) == -1 ) {
		return false;
	}
	if ( $html.search( endHtmlRegEx ) == -1 ) {
		return false;
	}

	var searchFrom = $html.search( startHtmlRegEx ) + startHtml.length;
	var searchTo = $html.search( endHtmlRegEx );

	var nodes = $html.substring( searchFrom, searchTo );

	nodes = nodes.trim().replace(/(?:\r\n|\r|\n|\t)/g, '');

	if ( 'undefined' !== typeof node ) {
		return jQuery('<div/>').html(nodes).find(node);
	}

	return nodes;
}