How to change order of html tag by using jquery

Question

I'd like to do bellow step by using jquery. Does anyone know great solution?

1. Get DOM object of "ul" element.

   <ul id="rows">
       <li class="row1">
           <a class="row1-1" href="/kensaku2/Page1" title="page1">
           2011/11/16</a>
       </li>
       <li class="row2">
           <a class="row1-2" href="/kensaku2/Page2" title="page2">
           2011/11/15</a>
       </li>
       <li class="row3">
           <a class="row1-3" href="/kensaku2/Page3" title="page3">
           2011/12/21</a>
       </li>
       <li class="row4">
           <a class="row1-4" href="/kensaku2/Page4" title="page4">
           2011/12/05</a>
       </li>
   </ul>
   

2. Find "li" element that has "a" element's content equals '2011/12/21'. (This is "row3" li element.)

3. Move the "li" element to the head. (also see bellow code.)

   <ul id="rows">
       <li class="row3">
           <a class="row1-3" href="/kensaku2/Page3" title="page3">
           2011/12/21</a>
       </li>
   
       <li class="row1">
           <a class="row1-1" href="/kensaku2/Page1" title="page1">
           2011/11/16</a>
       </li>
       <li class="row2">
           <a class="row1-2" href="/kensaku2/Page2" title="page2">
           2011/11/15</a>
       </li>
       <li class="row4">
           <a class="row1-4" href="/kensaku2/Page4" title="page4">
           2011/12/05</a>
       </li>
   </ul>
   

I already know how to get DOM object of "ul" element like this.

    $("#rows").get(0)

But I don't know step 2 and 3. So, I'd like to ask experts.

Answer 1

This will select the a element whose text is "2011/12/21" and move the parent li as first child:

$('#rows a:contains("2011/12/21")').parent().prependTo('#rows');

Demo

Answer 2

$("#rows li").filter(function() {

    // trimming is needed in this case, it seems
    return $.trim($(this).text()) === "2011/12/21";
}).prependTo("#rows");

Demo.

Answer 3

$("#rows li a").filter(function(){return $(this).text()=='2011/12/21'})

this will select the desired value move it where ever you want