Generate HTML string from AngularJS template string

Give this a whirl:

var template = angular.element('<div ng-repeat="item in items">{{item.data}}</div>');
var linkFunction = $compile(template);
var result = linkFunction($scope);
$scope.$apply();

console.log(template.html());

For this purpose I made myself a directive couple of projects ago:

angular.module('myApp')

.directive('ngHtmlCompile', ["$compile", function ($compile) {
    return {
        restrict: 'A',
        link: function (scope, element, attrs) {
            scope.$watch(attrs.ngHtmlCompile, function (newValue, oldValue) {
                element.html(newValue);
                $compile(element.contents())(scope);
            });
        }
    }
}]);

and then for example:

<div ng-html-compile='<div ng-repeat="item in items">{{item.data}}</div>'></div>

or even the string can be dynamic:

<div ng-repeat="item in items" ng-html-compile="item.template">
</div>