How to select consecutive elements that match a filter

<img class="a" />
<img />
<img class="a" />
<img class="a" id="active" />
<img class="a" />
<img class="a" />
<img />
<img class="a" />

// here's our active element.
var $active = $('#active');

// here is the filter we'll be testing against.
var filter = "img.a";

// $all will be the final jQuery object with all the consecutively matched elements.
// start it out by populating it with the current object.
var $all = $active;

for ($curr = $active.prev(filter); $curr.length > 0; $curr = $curr.prev(filter)) {
    $all = $all.add($curr);
}
for ($curr = $td.next(filter); $curr.length > 0; $curr = $curr.next(filter)) {
    $all = $all.add($curr);
}

$('#active')
    .nextAll()
    .each(hideConsecutive)
    .end()
    .prevAll()
    .each(hideConsecutive)
;
function hideConsecutive(index, element) {
    var $e = $(element);
    if (!$e.is(".a")) {
        return false;    // this stops the each function.
    } else {
        $e.hide('slow');
    }
}

var $all =
		(name == 'prev')
			 ? $(this).prevAll()
			 : $(this).nextAll();
	if (!matchExpr)
		return $all;

	var $notMatch = $($all).not(matchExpr).filter(':first');
	if ($all.index($notMatch) != -1)
		return $allConsecutive = $all.slice(0, $all.index($notMatch));

	return $all;
};

$('#active ~ img.a').hide();

$('#active ~ img.a')

var next = $('#active').next('.a');
var prev = $('#active').prev('.a');