Combine usage of .not() and .empty()

Question

I have a variable named MYCELL which is a reference to a td inside a table.

the td looks as follows

   <td>
       abc
       <a href="#" class=".myLinkClass">edit</a>
   </td>

Right now i wish to replace that string abc with def but keep the link. I thought i could use the following code:

        MYCELL.not(".myLinkClass").empty();
        MYCELL.append("def");

But the empty() clears the entire cell. Based on this link i opted to use a selector inside my .not() statement

        MYCELL.not(MYCELL.find(".myLinkClass")).empty();

Any idea on how to empty (including other html-tags) everything in my td without removing any links (<a href>) or any elements with the class .myLinkClass ?

Thank you for your time

Possible duplicate of http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6156470/jquery-setting-an-elements-text-only-without-removing-other-element-anchor — SSA, Aug 28 '14 at 09:27
@SSA not quite. In the solution offered the textvalue is always the last child. In my case my `td`can contain many things (including other html-tags\elements) which would have to be removed aswell. The problem isn't limited to simply replacing the text — User999999, Aug 28 '14 at 09:31

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 28 '14 at 09:29

3

You need to use contents() to ensure you can select text nodes as well:

MYCELL.contents().filter(function() {
    return !$(this).is("a"); // Only select nodes where are not <a> tags
}).remove(); // Use .remove instead

jsFiddle

edited Aug 28 '14 at 09:29

Matt

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answered Aug 28 '14 at 09:26

CodingIntrigue

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Combine usage of .not() and .empty()

1 Answers1