title: how to find a html element and then remove it?
body: <blockquote>
    <p><strong>Possible Duplicate:</strong><br>
    <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6095815/facing-weird-problem-while-adding-and-removing-class">Facing weird problem while adding and removing class.</a>  </p>
  </blockquote>
  
  
  
  <p>Suppose I have the following <strong>html</strong>--  </p>
  
  <pre><code>     &lt;div class="div_portlet ui-widget ui-widget-content ui-corner-all defaultcontentbg portlet-width default_border default_border_color portlet_space"&gt;
       &lt;div class="div_header headertitle align_center defaultheadercolor portlet-header-left-padding default_bottom_border default_border_color"&gt;
       &lt;span class="ui-icon ui-icon-minusthick"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
        Order Header Level Information&lt;/div&gt;
        &lt;div id="ordrHdrLvnInfn" class="div_content portlet-width"&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What I am trying to do is, check whether span with class <code>ui-icon ui-icon-minusthick</code> exists or not, if it exists first remove it and then add it. I tried in following way, but it's not working</p>
  
  <p><strong>javascript function::</strong></p>
  
  <pre><code>jQuery.fn.initPortlet = function( parent_component ,header , component ){
          this.find(header).find('span.ui-icon').remove();
  
          this.addClass("ui-widget ui-widget-content ui-corner-all")
              .find(header)           
              .addClass("headertitle")
              .addClass("align_center")
              .addClass("defaultheadercolor")
              .end()
              .prepend('&lt;span class="ui-icon ui-icon-minusthick"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;')
              .find(component);
                     }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>and I am calling this function in this way..  </p>
  
  <pre><code>$('.div_portlet').initPortlet('.div_portlet','.div_header','.div_content')
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>It should first remove the span then add it, but if I am calling this function multiple times then it just keep on adding that span.<br>
  How can I do this or is there any better way to do this.
  Thanks!!!!</p>