Read element text with converted line breaks

gistfile1.js

// read element text with converted line breaks
function readText( element ) {

	// invisible "workspace" element
	mb = $('#magicbox'); 
	
	// copy over the html, with replaced <br> tags
	var content = $(element).html(); 
	content = content.replace( /<br>/g, '[[br]]' ); 
	mb.html( content );
	
	// return the element text, letting whatever convert
	// the rest of the html data to text
	return mb.text().trim();
}