JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground
HTML
<ul>
<li><a class="close">x</a>text</li>
<li><a class="close">x</a>more text</li>
<li><a class="close">x</a>wohoooo more text</li>
</ul>
JavaScript
$.extend( $.expr[":"], {
textnodes: function( e ) {
return e.nodeType === 3;
}
});
var nodes = $("ul li").contents(":textnodes");
console.log( nodes );