Q:

Cut table into multiple columns

I have a simple html table that looks like so:

I would like to modify it into this:

I wrote simple plugin to do the job:
(function ($) {
    var settings;

    $.fn.splitTable = function (options) {
        var $this = this;
        //options
        settings = $.extend({}, defaults, options);

        $this.filter("table").each(function () {
            //body
            var table = $(this);
            var $tds = table.find('tbody td');
            var k, l;
            for (k = 0, l = Math.ceil($tds.length / settings.columns); l < $tds.length; k++, l++)
            $($tds[k]).parent().append($tds[l]);
            //header
            var $ths = table.find('thead th');
            for (var i = 0; i < settings.columns - 1; i++) {
                $ths.each(function () {
                    table.find('tr:first').append(this.outerHTML);
                });
            }
        });

        return $this;
    };

    var defaults = {
        columns: 2
    };
})(jQuery);

Here is jsFiddle sample: http://jsfiddle.net/Misiu/Tsqvj/
This works almost as expected, but jshint gives me error inside look where I clone header:

Don't make functions within a loop. 

Second thing is speed.  With small tables this works fine, but with large tables (rows>2k) and on old browsers this freezes browser for a while. 
I know that I could ask on codereview, but my code isn't working as expected.  If it will work I'll try to improve it and then I'll ask on codereview. 

A:

As the jshint error messages says, you are defining a function within a loop:
for (var i = 0; i < settings.columns - 1; i++) { /* THIS IS THE LOOP */
    $ths.each(function () { /* THIS IS THE FUNCTION */
        table.find('tr:first').append(this.outerHTML);
    });
}

The error can easily be fixed by defining the function before the loop, like this:
var appendToTable = function () {
    table.find('tr:first').append(this.outerHTML);
}
for (var i = 0; i < settings.columns - 1; i++) {
    $ths.each(appendToTable);
}

