What is the most efficient way to get leaf nodes with jQuery?

Question

How can one get all the leaf nodes, let's say divs, from the DOM? I am trying to think of an optimal solution, if there's no easy and magical selector for this. I thought of using the "reachedElem.find('div').length == 0" but I am not sure if this is the right direction. Any ideas?

Answer 1

You can go with following selector

$('div:not(:has(*))')

Above selector will select all the DIVs who don't have any children.

Answer 2

If you really want something efficient, avoid the complex :not(:has(*)) selector:

$("div").filter(
   function(index) {
      var isLeaf = $(this).children().length === 0;
      return isLeaf;
   }
);

I found out it's twice as efficient as eHussain's suggestion, or even faster.