You can use .add() to create a new jQuery object and add to the targeted element. Use chaining then to proceed further.

For eg jQueryApi:

$( "div" ).css( "border", "2px solid red" )
  .add( "p" )
  .css( "background", "yellow" );

 div {
    width: 60px;
    height: 60px;
    margin: 10px;
    float: left;
  }

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div></div>

How about this? Here, pElement refers to the element you want this div inside (to be a child of! :).

$("pElement").append("<div></div");

You can easily add anything more to that div in the string - Attributes, Content, you name it. Do note, for attribute values, you need to use the right quotation marks.

I hope that helps code. :) (I use)

function generateParameterForm(fieldName, promptText, valueType) {
    //<div class="form-group">
    //<label for="yyy" class="control-label">XXX</label>
    //<input type="text" class="form-control" id="yyy" name="yyy"/>
    //</div>

    // Add new div tag
    var form = $("<div/>").addClass("form-group");

    // Add label for prompt text
    var label = $("<label/>").attr("for", fieldName).addClass("control-label").text(promptText);

    // Add text field
    var input = $("<input/>").attr("type", "text").addClass("form-control").addClass(valueType).attr("id", fieldName).attr("name", fieldName);

    // lbl and inp => form
    $(form).append(label).append(input);

    return $(form);
}

I think this is the best way to add a div:

To append a test div to the div element with ID div_id:

$("#div_id").append("div name along with id will come here, for example, test");

Now append HTML to this added test div:

$("#test").append("Your HTML");

If it is just an empty div, this is sufficient:

$("#foo").append("<div>")

or

$("#foo").append("<div/>")

It gives the same result.

document.createElement('div');

alternatively to append() you can also use appendTo() which has a different syntax:

$("#foo").append("<div>hello world</div>");
$("<div>hello world</div>").appendTo("#foo");    

All these worked for me,

HTML part:

<div id="targetDIV" style="border: 1px solid Red">
    This text is surrounded by a DIV tag whose id is "targetDIV".
</div>

JavaScript code:

//Way 1: appendTo()
<script type="text/javascript">
    $("<div>hello stackoverflow users</div>").appendTo("#targetDIV"); //appendTo: Append at inside bottom
</script>

//Way 2: prependTo()
<script type="text/javascript">
    $("<div>Hello, Stack Overflow users</div>").prependTo("#targetDIV"); //prependTo: Append at inside top
</script>

//Way 3: html()
<script type="text/javascript">
    $("#targetDIV").html("<div>Hello, Stack Overflow users</div>"); //.html(): Clean HTML inside and append
</script>

//Way 4: append()
<script type="text/javascript">
    $("#targetDIV").append("<div>Hello, Stack Overflow users</div>"); //Same as appendTo
</script>

A short way of creating div is

var customDiv = $("<div/>");

Now the custom div can be appended to any other div.

d = document.createElement('div');
$(d).addClass(classname)
    .html(text)
    .appendTo($("#myDiv")) //main div
.click(function () {
    $(this).remove();
})
    .hide()
    .slideToggle(300)
    .delay(2500)
    .slideToggle(300)
    .queue(function () {
    $(this).remove();
});

div = $("<div>").html("Loading......");
$("body").prepend(div);    

$("<div/>").appendTo("div#main");

will append a blank div to <div id="main"></div>