empty() matches all elements that have no children (including text nodes).
<html> <head> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/jquery-1.3.2.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> $(document).ready(function(){ $("td:empty").text("Was empty!").css('background', 'red'); }); </script> </head> <body> <body> <table> <tr><td>First</td></tr> <tr><td></td></tr> <tr><td></td></tr> </table> </body> </html>