<html> <head> <title>jQuery empty example</title> <script type="text/javascript" src="jquery-1.9.1.js"></script> <style type="text/css"> div{ padding:8px; border:1px solid; } </style> </head> <body> <h1>jQuery empty example</h1> <div class="div-class1"> This is div-class1 </div> <div class="div-class2"></div> <div class="div-class3"> This is div-class3 <div class="div-class3-1"> This is div-class3-1 </div> </div> <br/><br/> <button>:empty</button> <script type="text/javascript"> $("button").click(function () { var str = $(this).text(); $("*").css("background", "yellow"); $(str).css("background", "red"); }); </script> </body> </html>