JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<div id="test">this is <a href="#">my</a> text that needs highlighting my text</div>

JavaScript

var src_str = $("#test").html();
var term = "mY text";
term = term.replace(/(\s+)/,"(<[^>]+>)*$1(<[^>]+>)*");
var pattern = new RegExp("("+term+")", "gi");

src_str = src_str.replace(pattern, "<mark>$1</mark>");
src_str = src_str.replace(/(<mark>[^<>]*)((<[^>]+>)+)([^<>]*<\/mark>)/,"$1</mark>$2<mark>$4");

$("#test").html(src_str);