nicky112 on "Add the_excerpt to the_content"

Hello,

I want to display the the_excerpt above the content for all posts. Here's what I came up with:

add_filter( 'the_content', 'ab0187_the_content' );
function ab0187_the_content( $content ) {
  $content = "<div class=\"excerpt\">" . the_excerpt() . "</div>" . $content;
  return $content;
}

The excerpt is added to it but unfortunately the div gets added below the_excerpt. Why is that happening?