jquery parent/children selector for counting <li> - jquery-selectors

Question

I have this piece of HTML
<div id="fileTreeInviati">
<ul class="php-file-tree">
<li class="pft-directory">
A006 - SOMETEXT (<span name="contaNew"></span>)
<img src="./moduli/home/images/info.png" title="Informazioni Azienda" class="imgInfo"/>
<ul style="display: none;">
<li class="pft-file ext-png">
cut.png
</li>
<li class="pft-file ext-dll">
Safari.dll
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="pft-directory">
A012 - SOMETEXT (<span name="contaNew"></span>)
<img src="./moduli/home/images/info.png" title="Informazioni Azienda" class="imgInfo"/>
<ul style="display: none;">
<li class="pft-file ext-jpg">
04.jpg
</li>
<li class="pft-file ext-dll">
Safari.dll
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="pft-directory">
A014 - SOMETEXT (<span name="contaNew"></span>)
<img src="./moduli/home/images/info.png" title="Informazioni Azienda" class="imgInfo"/>
<ul style="display: none;">
<li class="pft-file ext-txt">
acu.txt
</li>
<li class="pft-file ext-dll">
Safari.dll
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
I'm working on a js snippet that cycle through all "a" of the "li" and checks if it has the class "new" if yes increment a counter by one. This counter now has to be printed on the relative "li" "span" 3 level before.
So I have the number of the element with the "new" class.
The js snippet is this
$("#fileTreeInviati .php-file-tree .pft-directory li").each(function(){
$(this).children("a").each(function(i,e){
if ($(e).hasClass("new")){
cont++;
console.log($(e).text());
$(this).parent().parent().parent().children("a").children("span").text(cont);
}
})
cont = 0;
});
I think I'm almost there but the counter is always 1. I think there is something mess with .children, maybe it can handle only the first occurrence?
Thanks for help

Answer 1

Why not just use .length instead?
$('#fileTreeInviati .php-file-tree .pft-directory li a.new').length;
Update: If you want to count every li element separately, use this:
$('#fileTreeInviati .php-file-tree .pft-directory li').each(function() {
alert($('a.new', this).length);
})

Answer 2

OK, I figure out how to do the magic:)
Here it is:
cont = 0;
$('#fileTreeInviati .php-file-tree .pft-directory').each(function() {
$(this).children("ul").children("li").children("a.new").each(function(i,e){
cont++;
$(e).parent().parent().parent().children("a").children("span").text(cont);
});
cont=0;
});
Now all works perfect. If you think this can do in a better way, lemme know.
Bye