jquery method .not to remove nested div from string -

i need remove 1 of nested divs. can remove div#parent (+divs inside) with:

var $s = $(s).not('div#parent');

but can't remove 1 div inside (e.g. div#first):

var s = '<h1>heading</h1><div id="parent"><div id="first"><p>paragraph</p></div><div id="second"><p> second div</p></div></div>';          var $s = $(s).not('div#parent > div#first');          $('body').append($s);  // shows html 

how scenario done?

your .not filtering top-level elements, $(s) returns:

> $(s) [<h1>​heading​</h1>​, <div id=​"parent">​…​</div>​] 

since both of them don't match selector, nothing removed set of matched elements.

find , remove elements instead:

var $s = $(s); $s.find('#first').remove();