diff --git a/jquery.linkify.js b/jquery.linkify.js
index a148e48..0b98685 100644
--- a/jquery.linkify.js
+++ b/jquery.linkify.js
@@ -3,22 +3,15 @@ function linkify(string, buildHashtagUrl, includeW3, target, noFollow) {
   if (noFollow) {
     relNoFollow = " rel=\"nofollow\"";
   }
-  
-  string = string.replace(/((http|https|ftp)\:\/\/|\bw{3}\.)[a-z0-9\-\.]+\.[a-z]{2,3}(:[a-z0-9]*)?\/?([a-z\u00C0-\u017F0-9\-\._\?\,\'\/\\\+&%\$#\=~])*/gi, function(captured) {
-    var uri;
-    if (captured.toLowerCase().indexOf("www.") == 0) {
-      if (!includeW3) {
-        return captured;
-      }
-      uri = "http://" + captured;
-    } else {
-      uri = captured;
-    }
-    return "<a href=\"" + uri+ "\" target=\"" + target + "\"" + relNoFollow + ">" + captured + "</a>";
-  });
-  
+
+  if (string.toLowerCase().indexOf("www.") === 0 && includeW3) {
+    string = '<a href="http://' + string + '" target="' + target + '"' + relNoFollow + '>' + string + '</a>';
+  } else {
+    string = '<a href="' + string + '" target="' + target + '"' + relNoFollow + '>' + string + '</a>';
+  }
+
   if (buildHashtagUrl) {
-    string = string.replace(/\B#(\w+)/g, "<a href=" + buildHashtagUrl("$1") +" target=\"" + target + "\"" + relNoFollow + ">#$1</a>");
+    string = string.replace(/\B#(\w+)/g, '<a href=' + buildHashtagUrl("$1") + ' target="' + target + '"' + relNoFollow + '>#$1</a>');
   }
   return string;
 }
@@ -26,11 +19,17 @@ function linkify(string, buildHashtagUrl, includeW3, target, noFollow) {
 (function($) {
   $.fn.linkify = function(opts) {
     return this.each(function() {
-      var $this = $(this);
       var buildHashtagUrl;
       var includeW3 = true;
       var target = '_self';
       var noFollow = true;
+      var regex = /((http|https|ftp)\:\/\/|\bw{3}\.)[a-z0-9\-\.]+\.[a-z]{2,3}(:[a-z0-9]*)?\/?([a-z\u00C0-\u017F0-9\-\._\?\,\'\/\\\+&amp;%\$#\=~])*/gi;
+      var txt = this.innerHTML;
+      var output = '';
+      var replacement;
+      var matchLen;
+      var lastIndex = 0;
+
       if (opts) {
         if (typeof opts  == "function") {
           buildHashtagUrl = opts;
@@ -49,18 +48,20 @@ function linkify(string, buildHashtagUrl, includeW3, target, noFollow) {
           }
         }
       }
-      $this.html(
-          $.map(
-            $this.contents(),
-            function(n, i) {
-                if (n.nodeType == 3) {
-                    return linkify(n.data, buildHashtagUrl, includeW3, target, noFollow);
-                } else {
-                    return n.outerHTML;
-                }
-            }
-        ).join("")
-      );
+
+      while ((match = regex.exec(txt)) !== null) {
+        matchLen = match[0].length;
+        replacement = linkify(match[0], buildHashtagUrl, includeW3, target, noFollow);
+        output += txt.substring(lastIndex, match.index + matchLen).replace(match[0], replacement);
+        lastIndex = match.index + matchLen;
+      }
+
+      // Include the rest of the text.
+      if (lastIndex !== txt.length) {
+        output += txt.substring(lastIndex);
+      }
+
+      $(this).html(output);
     });
-  }
-})(jQuery);
\ No newline at end of file
+  };
+})(jQuery);
diff --git a/jquery.linkify.min.js b/jquery.linkify.min.js
index b9f7b11..8fc927b 100644
--- a/jquery.linkify.min.js
+++ b/jquery.linkify.min.js
@@ -1,4 +1 @@
-function linkify(string,buildHashtagUrl,includeW3,target,noFollow){relNoFollow="";if(noFollow)relNoFollow=' rel="nofollow"';string=string.replace(/((http|https|ftp)\:\/\/|\bw{3}\.)[a-z0-9\-\.]+\.[a-z]{2,3}(:[a-z0-9]*)?\/?([a-z\u00C0-\u017F0-9\-\._\?\,\'\/\\\+&amp;%\$#\=~])*/gi,function(captured){var uri;if(captured.toLowerCase().indexOf("www.")==0){if(!includeW3)return captured;uri="http://"+captured}else uri=captured;return'<a href="'+uri+'" target="'+target+'"'+relNoFollow+">"+captured+"</a>"});
-if(buildHashtagUrl)string=string.replace(/\B#(\w+)/g,"<a href="+buildHashtagUrl("$1")+' target="'+target+'"'+relNoFollow+">#$1</a>");return string}
-(function($){$.fn.linkify=function(opts){return this.each(function(){var $this=$(this);var buildHashtagUrl;var includeW3=true;var target="_self";var noFollow=true;if(opts)if(typeof opts=="function")buildHashtagUrl=opts;else{if(typeof opts.hashtagUrlBuilder=="function")buildHashtagUrl=opts.hashtagUrlBuilder;if(typeof opts.includeW3=="boolean")includeW3=opts.includeW3;if(typeof opts.target=="string")target=opts.target;if(typeof opts.noFollow=="boolean")noFollow=opts.noFollow}$this.html($.map($this.contents(),
-function(n,i){if(n.nodeType==3)return linkify(n.data,buildHashtagUrl,includeW3,target,noFollow);else return n.outerHTML}).join(""))})}})(jQuery);
\ No newline at end of file
+function linkify(t,e,o,l,n){return relNoFollow="",n&&(relNoFollow=' rel="nofollow"'),t=0===t.toLowerCase().indexOf("www.")&&o?'<a href="http://'+t+'" target="'+l+'"'+relNoFollow+">"+t+"</a>":'<a href="'+t+'" target="'+l+'"'+relNoFollow+">"+t+"</a>",e&&(t=t.replace(/\B#(\w+)/g,"<a href="+e("$1")+' target="'+l+'"'+relNoFollow+">#$1</a>")),t}!function(t){t.fn.linkify=function(e){return this.each(function(){var o,l,n,a=!0,r="_self",i=!0,f=/((http|https|ftp)\:\/\/|\bw{3}\.)[a-z0-9\-\.]+\.[a-z]{2,3}(:[a-z0-9]*)?\/?([a-z\u00C0-\u017F0-9\-\._\?\,\'\/\\\+&amp;%\$#\=~])*/gi,h=this.innerHTML,c="",u=0;for(e&&("function"==typeof e?o=e:("function"==typeof e.hashtagUrlBuilder&&(o=e.hashtagUrlBuilder),"boolean"==typeof e.includeW3&&(a=e.includeW3),"string"==typeof e.target&&(r=e.target),"boolean"==typeof e.noFollow&&(i=e.noFollow)));null!==(match=f.exec(h));)n=match[0].length,l=linkify(match[0],o,a,r,i),c+=h.substring(u,match.index+n).replace(match[0],l),u=match.index+n;u!==h.length&&(c+=h.substring(u)),t(this).html(c)})}}(jQuery);