Instead of searching the DOM for elements (which may not align well with AngularJS principles - see How do I "think in AngularJS" if I have a jQuery background?), it is recommended to handle your DOM manipulation within your directive. The element is readily available to you in the link function.
For instance, in your myDirective:
return {
link: function (scope, element, attr) {
element.html('Hello world');
}
}
If you really need to perform the query outside of the directive, one option would be to use querySelectorAll in modern browsers:
angular.element(document.querySelectorAll("[my-directive]"));
$('#your_input_tag_id').val();
However, keep in mind that jquery will be required to support IE8 and earlier versions:
angular.element($("[my-directive]"));