How do I select a span containing a specific text value, using jquery?

http://api.jquery.com/contains-selector/

$("span:contains('FIND ME')")

ETA:

The contains selector is nice, but filtering a list of spans if probably quicker: http://jsperf.com/jquery-contains-vs-filter

$("span").filter(function() { return ($(this).text().indexOf('FIND ME') > -1) }); -- anywhere match
$("span").filter(function() { return ($(this).text() === 'FIND ME') }); -- exact match

Use contains:

$("span:contains('FIND ME')")

By the way, if you'd like to use this with a variable, you'd do it this way:

function findText() {
    $('span').css('border', 'none');  //reset all of the spans to no border
    var find = $('#txtFind').val();   //where txtFind is a simple text input for your search value
    if (find != null && find.length > 0) {
        //search every span for this content
        $("span:contains(" + find + ")").each(function () {
            $(this).css('border', 'solid 2px red');    //mark the content
        });
     }
}