JavaScript: How to get parent element by selector?

Here's the most basic version:

function collectionHas(a, b) { //helper function (see below)
    for(var i = 0, len = a.length; i < len; i ++) {
        if(a[i] == b) return true;
    }
    return false;
}
function findParentBySelector(elm, selector) {
    var all = document.querySelectorAll(selector);
    var cur = elm.parentNode;
    while(cur && !collectionHas(all, cur)) { //keep going up until you find a match
        cur = cur.parentNode; //go up
    }
    return cur; //will return null if not found
}

var yourElm = document.getElementById("yourElm"); //div in your original code
var selector = ".yes";
var parent = findParentBySelector(yourElm, selector);

Finds the closest parent (or the element itself) that matches the given selector. Also included is a selector to stop searching, in case you know a common ancestor that you should stop searching at.

function closest(el, selector, stopSelector) {
  var retval = null;
  while (el) {
    if (el.matches(selector)) {
      retval = el;
      break
    } else if (stopSelector && el.matches(stopSelector)) {
      break
    }
    el = el.parentElement;
  }
  return retval;
}

You may use closest() in modern browsers:

var div = document.querySelector('div#myDiv');
div.closest('div[someAtrr]');

Use object detection to supply a polyfill or alternative method for backwards compatability with IE.

Using leech's answer with indexOf (to support IE)

This is using what leech talked about, but making it work for IE (IE doesn't support matches):

function closest(el, selector, stopSelector) {
  var retval = null;
  while (el) {
    if (el.className.indexOf(selector) > -1) {
      retval = el;
      break
    } else if (stopSelector && el.className.indexOf(stopSelector) > -1) {
      break
    }
    el = el.parentElement;
  }
  return retval;
}

It's not perfect, but it works if the selector is unique enough so it won't accidentally match the incorrect element.