JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<table id="tab">
    <thead>
        <tr id="tabhead">
            <th>Amount</th>
            <th>Update</th>
            <th>Delete</th>
        </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
        <tr id="tabbody">
            <td>150.0</td>
            <td align="center">
                <a href='#' class='updatelink'>u</a>
            </td>
            <td><a href='#'>x</a></td>
        </tr>
    </tbody>
</table> 
<div id="result"></div>

JavaScript

var x = $("tr:first", $("a.updatelink").parents("table"));
var y = $("a.updatelink").parents("table:first tr:first");

$("#result").append(" x="+ (x.length? x[0].id : "nothing"));
$("#result").append(" y="+ (y.length? y[0].id : "nothing"));