Question

<strong>title</strong>

<cite>...</cite>
<cite>...</cite>
...
<a>ank</a>

I want to append a new element $el right behind the last <cite> behind <strong>,if there is no <cite>,then append $el right after <strong>

Answer 1

Try this:

$last_cite = $("strong ~ cite:last");

if ($last_cite.length > 0) {
  $last_cite.after($el);
} else {
  $("strong").after($el);
}

[EDIT]

~ Selects all sibling elements that
follow after the “prev” element, have
the same parent, and match the
filtering “siblings” selector.
source

[/EDIT]

Or in one line but not really shorter and less readable:

$el.insertAfter($last_cite.length > 0 ? $last_cite : $("strong"));

UPDATE

shorter approach:

$el.insertAfter($("strong, strong ~ cite:last").eq(-1))