function $(selector, rootnode) { var tagname; var attr = {}; // match [tagname]#idname // match [tagname].classname // match tagname var by_id = /^(\w*)#(\w+)$/; var by_class = /^(\w*)\.(\w+)$/; if (by_id.test(selector)) { var matches = selector.match(by_id); tagname = matches[1]; attr['id'] = matches[2]; } else if (by_class.test(selector)) { var matches = selector.match(by_class); tagname = matches[1]; attr['className'] = matches[2]; } else { tagname = selector; } // by default, start search at element // by default, match all tagnames if (rootnode == null) rootnode = document.documentElement; if (tagname == '' || tagname == null) tagname = '*'; // search for matching elements var nodes = rootnode.getElementsByTagName(tagname); var matches = []; for (var i=0; i