Selecting only first-level elements in jquery

Question

How can I select the link elements of only the parent <ul> from a list like this?

<ul>
<li><a href="#">Link</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Link</a>
  <ul>
    <li><a href="#">Link</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">Link</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">Link</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">Link</a></li>
    <li><a href="#">Link</a></li>
  </ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#">Link</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Link</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Link</a></li>

So in css ul li a, but not ul li ul li a

Thanks

Answer 1

$("ul > li a")

But you would need to set a class on the root ul if you specifically want to target the outermost ul:

<ul class="rootlist">
...

Then it's:

$("ul.rootlist > li a")....

Another way of making sure you only have the root li elements:

$("ul > li a").not("ul li ul a")

It looks kludgy, but it should do the trick