JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<table>
    <tr>
<td class="nameField"><span class="text">My name</span></td>
<td class="controls"><a class="edit">Edit</a></td>
</tr>
</table>

JavaScript

$('a.edit').click(function() {
    $(this).closest("tr").find("td").not(".controls").each(function(k,v) {
        var span = $(this).children('span');
        $(this).append('<input type="text" value="'+span.text()+'" />');
        span.hide();
    }); 
});