Opposite of append in jquery

Question

I use .append to add to a div

$(this).append(\'
test
\');

how can I search for a

Answer 1

just had the same problem and ive come across this - which actually does the trick for me:

// $("#the_div").contents().remove();
// or short: 
$("#the_div").empty();
$("#the_div").append("HTML goes in here...");