SO-68364942

by David Thomas

HTML

<div>
  <br /> keep1 <br /> keep2
  <span>drop</span> keep3
  <br /> keep4
  <br />
  <h4>drop2</h4>
  <br />keep5
</div>

JavaScript

const text = [...document.querySelector('div').childNodes].filter(
		(node)=> node.nodeType && node.nodeType === 3 && node.nodeValue.trim().length
  ).map(
  	(node)=>node.nodeValue.trim()
  );
  
console.log(text);