search a string inside a element and then put it in a conditional statement
<p>for example i have a input, anchor tags, divident or any element that a value could be possible. how to search inside a element like to see if there is a <br> attribute inside of it or any value as i desire and then put it in a conditional statement like if and elseif statement and check if the selector has a <br> inside and if there is then alert yes else alert no or in php, echo yes if there a <br> inside, else echo yes.</p>

<p>I tried this. assume i have a textarea</p>

<pre><code>var isFound = $("#apostform textarea").val().search("&lt;br&gt;");
alert ('there is');
</code></pre>

<p>question: is the alert box is still be executed even if we found no <br> inside of the specified text area?</p>

<p>I need this to be done in javascript, jquery, and in php. thank you in advance.</p>
