jQuery - rule for “does not contain element”

Question

I want to create a rule to target the a element in the following:

   

      Root Me         


        

Answer 1

If you're matching the a do this:

var result  = $('#root > li:not(:has(ul)) > a');

• http://api.jquery.com/not-selector/
• http://api.jquery.com/has-selector/

If you want to allow deeper nested <ul> elements, and just want to check to make sure only the direct children don't have a <ul>, you could do this:

var result  = $('#root > li:not(:has(> ul)) > a');

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EDIT:

To have more than one selector at the same time, separate them with a comma inside the quotes:

var result  = $('#root > li:not(:has(> ul)) > a, #someOtherElement');

Answer 2

$('#root a').click(function(e) {
    if ( $(this).parents('ul').length > 1 ) {
       e.preventDefault(); // cancel action for anchors inside of #root who have multiple parent list elements 
    }
});

Change logic per requirement.