XML DOM Remove Nodes

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XML DOM Remove Nodes
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The removeChild() method removes a specified node.

The removeAttribute() method removes a specified attribute.

- Examples
The examples use the XML file books.xml.

Remove an element node
This example uses removeChild() to remove the first <book> element.

Remove the current element node
This example uses parentNode and removeChild() to remove the current <book> element.

Remove a text node
This example uses removeChild() to remove the text node from the first <title> element.

Clear the text of a text node
This example uses the nodeValue() property to clear the text node of the first <title> element.

Remove an attribute by name
This example uses removeAttribute() to remove the "category" attribute from the first <book> element.

Remove attributes by object
This example uses removeAttributeNode() to remove all attributes from all <book> elements.

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Header
Remove an Element Node
The removeChild() method removes a specified node.

When a node is removed, all its child nodes are also removed.

This code will remove the first <book> element from the loaded xml:

Example
y = xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName("book")[0];

xmlDoc.documentElement.removeChild(y);
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Example explained:

Suppose "books.xml" is loaded xmlDoc
Set the variable y to be the element node to remove
Remove the element node by using the removeChild() method from the parent node
Remove Myself - Remove the Current Node
The removeChild() method is the only way to remove a specified node.

When you have navigated to the node you want to remove, it is possible to remove that node using the parentNode property and the removeChild() method:

Example
x = xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName("book")[0];

x.parentNode.removeChild(x);
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Example explained:

Suppose "books.xml" is loaded into xmlDoc
Set the variable y to be the element node to remove
Remove the element node by using the parentNode property and the removeChild() method
Remove a Text Node
The removeChild() method can also be used to remove a text node:

Example
x = xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName("title")[0];
y = x.childNodes[0];
x.removeChild(y);
»
Example explained:

Suppose "books.xml" is loaded into xmlDoc
Set the variable x to be the first title element node
Set the variable y to be the text node to remove
Remove the element node by using the removeChild() method from the parent node
It is not very common to use removeChild() just to remove the text from a node. The nodeValue property can be used instead. See next paragraph.

Clear a Text Node
The nodeValue property can be used to change the value of a text node:

Example
xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName("title")[0].childNodes[0].nodeValue = "";
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Example explained:

Suppose "books.xml" is loaded into xmlDoc
Get the first title element's first child node.
Use the nodeValue property to clear the text from the text node
Remove an Attribute Node by Name
The removeAttribute() method removes an attribute node by its name.

Example: removeAttribute('category')

This code removes the "category" attribute in the first <book> element:

Example
x = xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName("book");
x[0].removeAttribute("category");
»
Example explained:

Suppose "books.xml" is loaded into xmlDoc
Use getElementsByTagName() to get book nodes
Remove the "category" attribute form the first book element node
Loop through and remove the "category" attribute of all <book> elements: Try it yourself

Remove Attribute Nodes by Object
The removeAttributeNode() method removes an attribute node, using the node object as parameter.

Example: removeAttributeNode(x)

This code removes all the attributes of all <book> elements:

Example
x = xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName("book");

for (i = 0; i < x.length; i++) {
    while (x[i].attributes.length > 0) {
        attnode = x[i].attributes[0];
        old_att = x[i].removeAttributeNode(attnode);
    }
}
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Example explained:

Suppose "books.xml" is loaded into xmlDoc
Use getElementsByTagName() to get all book nodes
For each book element check if there are any attributes
While there are attributes in a book element, remove the attribute

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