JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<ul class="nav">
        <li><a href="#tab1">tab1</a>
        </li>
        <li>|</li>
        <li><a href="#tab2">tab2</a>
        </li>
        <li>|</li>
        <li><a href="#tab3">tab3</a>
        </li>
        <li>|</li>
        <li><a href="#tab4">tab4</a>
        </li>
    </ul>

CSS

a {
    color:#000;
    text-decoration:none;
}
a:hover {
    text-decoration:underline;
}
a:visited {
    color:#000;
}
.nav {
    padding:10px;
    border:solid 1px #c0c0c0;
    border-radius:5px;
    float:left;
}
.nav li {
    list-style-type:none;
    float:left;
    margin:0 10px;
}
.nav li a {
    text-align:center;
    width:55px;
    float:left;
}
.nav li.active {
    background-color:green;
}
.nav li.active a {
    color:#fff;
    font-weight:bold;
}

JavaScript

$(function () {
    setNavigation();
});

function setNavigation() {
    var path = window.location.pathname;
    path = path.replace(/\/$/, "");
    path = decodeURIComponent(path);

    $(".nav li a").click(function() {
      $(".nav li").removeClass("active");                                     
      $(this).parent().addClass("active");
    });

}