Using .text() to retrieve only text not nested in child tags

Question

If I have html like this:

    This is some text
    First span text
    

        

Answer 1

It'll need to be something tailored to the needs, which are dependent on the structure you're presented with. For the example you've provided, this works:

$(document).ready(function(){
     var $tmp = $('#listItem').children().remove();
     $('#listItem').text('').append($tmp);
});

Demo: http://jquery.nodnod.net/cases/2385/run

But it's fairly dependent on the markup being similar to what you posted.