# :empty Selector

## empty ( ) version added: 1.0

Description: Select all elements that have no children (including text nodes).

This is the inverse of `:parent`.

One important thing to note with :empty (and :parent) is that child elements include text nodes.

The W3C recommends that the `<p>` element have at least one child node, even if that child is merely text (see http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/text.html#edef-P). Some other elements, on the other hand, are empty (i.e. have no children) by definition: <input>, <img>, <br>, and <hr>, for example.

## Examples:

#### Example: Finds all elements that are empty - they don't have child elements or text.

    <!doctype html>
    <html lang="en">
    <head>
      <meta charset="utf-8">
      <title>css demo</title>

      <style>

      td {
        text-align: center;
      }

      </style>

      <script src="//code.jquery.com/jquery-1.10.2.js"></script>
    </head>
    <body>

    <table border="1">
      <tr><td>TD #0</td><td></td></tr>
      <tr><td>TD #2</td><td></td></tr>
      <tr><td></td><td>TD#5</td></tr>
    </table>

    <script>

    $( "td:empty" )
      .text( "Was empty!" )
      .css( "background", "rgb(255,220,200)" );

    </script>

    </body>
    </html>

#### Demo: