JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground
HTML
<p>
Input:<br>
<textarea name="text_input" id="text_input"></textarea>
</p>
JavaScript
$('#text_input').change(process).keyup(process);
function process() {
var html = $('#text_input').val();
$('<div>' + html + '</div>').find("a").each(function(i, elem) {
alert('got here');
});
}