title: Extract part of HTML document in jQuery
body: <p>I want to make an AJAX call to an HTML-returning page, extract part of the HTML (using jQuery selectors), and then use that part in my jQuery-based JavaScript.</p>
  
  <p>The <a href="http://api.jquery.com/jQuery.get/" rel="noreferrer">AJAX retrieval</a> is pretty simple. This gives me the entire HTML document in the "data" parameter of the callback function.</p>
  
  <p>What I don't understand is how to handle that data in a useful way. I'd like to wrap it in a new jQuery object and then use a selector (via find() I believe) to get just the part I want. Once I have that I'll be passing it off to another JavaScript object for insertion into my document. (This delegation is why I'm not using jQuery.load() in the first place).</p>
  
  <p>The get() examples I see all seem to be variations on this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>$('.result').html(data);
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>...which, if I understand it correctly, inserts the <em>entire</em> returned document into the selected element. Not only is that suspicious (doesn't this insert the <code>&lt;head&gt;</code> etc?) but it's too coarse for what I want.</p>
  
  <p>Suggestions on alternate ways to do this are most welcome.</p>