JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground
HTML
<span class="c1"></span>
<span></span>
<span class="c1"></span>
<span class="c1"></span>
<span class="c1"></span>
JavaScript
alert($('span:first').nextAll('.c1:first').length);
<span class="c1"></span>
<span></span>
<span class="c1"></span>
<span class="c1"></span>
<span class="c1"></span>
alert($('span:first').nextAll('.c1:first').length);