Is it possible to use jQuery to select node text by its contents?

Question

How to choose <a href="...">foo</a> DOM node, knowing foo ?

Answer 1

You can use .filter() , for example:

 $("a").filter(function() { return $(this).text() === "foo"; }).doSomething(); 

There is also a selector :contains() , if you do not need an exact match, for example:

 $("a:contains('foo')").doSomething(); 

Instead of an exact match, this works if the text you are looking for is anywhere in the element.

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Alternatively, if you want to precisely combine and do this often, create a selector for this, for example:

 $.expr[":"].textEquals = function(obj, index, meta) { return $(obj).text() === meta[3]; } 

Then you can use it anytime after that, for example:

 $("a:textEquals('foo')").doSomething();