jQuery( #masterdiv div ).html(  );

jQuery s empty() function does just that:

$( #masterdiv ).empty();

clears the master div.

$( #masterdiv div ).empty();

clears all the child divs, but leaves the master intact.

Use jQuery s CSS selector syntax to select all div elements inside the element with id masterdiv. Then call empty() to clear the contents.

$( #masterdiv div ).empty();

Using text( ) or html( ) will cause some string parsing to take place, which generally is a bad idea when working with the DOM. Try and use DOM manipulation methods that do not involve string representations of DOM objects wherever possible.

I know this is a jQuery related question, but I believe someone might get here expecting a pure Javascript solution. So, if you were trying to do this using js, you could use the innerHTML property and set it to an empty string.

document.getElementById( masterdiv ).innerHTML =   ;

jQuery recommend you use ".empty()",".remove()",".detach()"

if you needed delete all element in element, use this code :

$( #target_id ).empty();

if you needed delete all element, Use this code:

$( #target_id ).remove();

i and jQuery group not recommend for use SET FUNCTION like .html() .attr() .text() , what is that? it s IF YOU WANT TO SET ANYTHING YOU NEED

ref :https://learn.jquery.com/using-jquery-core/manipulating-elements/

If all the divs inside that masterdiv needs to be cleared, it this.

$( #masterdiv div ).html(  );

else, you need to iterate on all the div children of #masterdiv, and check if the id starts with childdiv.

$( #masterdiv div ).each(
    function(element){
        if(element.attr( id ).substr(0, 8) == "childdiv")
        {
            element.html(  );
        }
    }
 );

The better way is :

 $( ".masterdiv" ).empty();

$("#masterdiv div").text("");

$("#masterdiv > *").text("")

or

$("#masterdiv").children().text("")

$( #div_id ).empty();

or

$( .div_class ).empty();

Works Fine to remove contents inside a div

You can use .empty() function to clear all the child elements

 $(document).ready(function () {
  $("#button").click(function () {
   //only the content inside of the element will be deleted
   $("#masterdiv").empty();
  });
 });

To see the comparison between jquery .empty(), .hide(), .remove() and .detach() follow here http://www.voidtricks.com/jquery-empty-hide-remove-detach/

When you are appending data into div by id using any service or database, first try it empty, like this:

var json = jsonParse(data.d);
$( #divname ).empty();

$("#masterdiv div[id^= childdiv ]").each(function(el){$(el).empty();});

or

$("#masterdiv").find("div[id^= childdiv ]").each(function(el){$(el).empty();});

try them if it help.

$( .div_parent .div_child ).empty();

$( #div_parent #div_child ).empty();