Modify table structure (merge cells) with jQuery

Answer 1

This works for me. Merges cells with same text: Logic: for each cell, if next cell same text, remove next cell, increment colSpan. (Note "colSpan", not "colspan" - apparently a browser compat issue)

$('#tblData tbody tr:first-child td').each(function(){
 var colSpan=1;
 while( $(this).text() == $(this).next().text() ){
  $(this).next().remove();
  colSpan++;
 }
$(this).attr('colSpan',colSpan);
});