Test

<div id='x'>
x1
<a href="#">x2</a>
&lt;a href="##"&gt;x3&lt;/a&gt;
</div>
<script>
function $(X){return document.getElementById(X)}
</script>
<input type=button value=html onclick="alert($('x').innerHTML)">
<input type=button value=text onclick="alert($('x').innerText)">