JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<ul>
    <li><span id="replaceWithEmptyString">not replaced by empty string</span></li>
    <li><span id="replaceWithEmptyFunction">not replaced by function returning empty string</span></li>
</ul>

<div id="append"></div>

JavaScript

jQuery("#replaceWithEmptyString").replaceWith("");
jQuery("#replaceWithEmptyFunction").replaceWith( function() { return ""; } );

var $div = jQuery("<div></div>").appendTo("body").append("");
$div.html( "Child nodes after <code>.append(\"\")</code>: " + $div[0].childNodes.length );