JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

Search for "a" as in "ASP": <input id="tags" />

JavaScript

$(function () {
    var availableTags = [
        "ActionScript",
        "AppleScript",
        "Asp",
        "BASIC",
        "C",
        "C++",
        "Clojure",
        "COBOL",
        "ColdFusion",
        "Erlang",
        "Fortran",
        "Groovy",
        "Haskell",
        "Java",
        "JavaScript",
        "Lisp",
        "Perl",
        "PHP",
        "Python",
        "Ruby",
        "Scala",
        "Scheme"];
    
    $("#tags").autocomplete({
        source: availableTags,
        response: function (event, ui) {
            if (ui.content.length > 3) {
                while (ui.content.length > 3) {
                    ui.content.pop();
                }
                ui.content.push({
                    'label': 'Please narrow down your search',
                        'value': ''
                });
            }
        }
    }).data("ui-autocomplete")._renderItem = function (ul, item) {
        var $el = $("<li>");
        if (item.value === '') {
            $el.addClass("ui-state-disabled")
               .text(item.label);
                
        } else {
            $el.append("<a>" + item.label + "</a>");
        }
        
        return $el.appendTo(ul);
    };
});