CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javaxmldomxpath
user2824073
user2824073

Reputation: 2485

Remove an XML Node if an attribute has a specific value


I have the need to search into an XML for some attributes and delete its Node if the attribute is found. For example, I want to remove the book nodes which have attributes beginning with "#false"

<catalog>
   <book id="bk101" available="#false">
      <author>Gambardella, Matthew</author>
      <title>XML Developer's Guide</title>
      <genre>Computer</genre>
      <price>44.95</price>
      <publish_date>2000-10-01</publish_date>
      <description>An in-depth look at creating applications 
      with XML.</description>
   </book>
</catalog>

So far, I have been able to capture all "#false" Elements using an XPath expression:

String search = "//@*[starts-with(.,'#false')]";
NodeList nodeList = (NodeList) xPath.
              compile(search).evaluate(doc, XPathConstants.NODESET);

((Node)nodeList.item(0)).getParent(); // NULL!!

However the problem is that the Parent Node of "available" Elements is null so I cannot find a way to remove the whole "book" Node. Any help ?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1544

Answers (2)

Muhammad Hamed
Muhammad Hamed

Reputation: 1239

you can use this xpath .. which will match with the book element itself

//*[@*[starts-with(.,'#false')]]

I hope this could help!

Upvotes: 1

M A
M A

Reputation: 72844

For attributes, use Attr#getOwnerElement() to retrieve the element containing the attribute:

NodeList nodeList = (NodeList) xPath.
             compile(search).evaluate(doc, XPathConstants.NODESET);

Node attrNode = nodeList.item(0);
if(attrNode.getNodeType() == Node.ATTRIBUTE_NODE) {
    Attr attr = (Attr) attrNode;

    Element bookElement = attr.getOwnerElement();
    ...
}

Upvotes: 1

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