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Asked: 2024-09-25T01:28:09+05:30

I am trying to use XPath to locate a specific node that contains certain text, but I am facing issues. My XPath expression seems to be ineffective when applied to a node that includes multiple nested nodes and text. How can I correctly check if a node includes the desired text?

I’m stuck with an XPath issue and hoping someone out there can help me figure it out. So, here’s the situation: I’m working on parsing some XML data, and I need to extract a specific node based on certain text it contains. Seems simple enough, right? Well, it was until I started dealing with this particularly complex XML structure that has multiple nested nodes.

To be more specific, I have this XML document where some nodes contain text that I want to match, but they also have a bunch of child nodes, which makes my XPath expression kind of tricky to work with. I thought I had it all figured out with a straightforward expression like `//node[contains(text(), ‘my desired text’)]`, but it turns out that it doesn’t work as expected because the ‘node’ I’m targeting doesn’t directly contain the text I’m looking for. Instead, it’s buried under a few layers of other nodes.

I’ve been testing different variations of XPath, but either I’m not targeting the right level of the hierarchy, or the contains() function isn’t playing nice with the nested structure. I’ve tried using something like `//node//*[contains(text(), ‘my desired text’)]`, but that feels a bit like I’m throwing darts blindfolded—sometimes it gets close, but it often returns nodes that aren’t relevant to what I’m trying to achieve.

I really need to fetch the parent node even if my desired text is somewhere deep down in the hierarchy. Does anyone know a trick or a pattern that might work better? I’m looking for something that could help me effectively check if a node, amidst all its child nodes, includes the text I’m targeting. Any practical examples or tips would be super helpful! Thanks a ton in advance for your help—this has been a bit of a headache!

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    2 Answers


    1. Looks like you’re having a bit of a tough time with XPath! I totally get that it can be super confusing with all those nested nodes and trying to locate text buried deep down.

      From what you’ve described, if you want to find a parent node based on text that is somewhere within its child nodes, you can use this XPath expression:

      //*[contains(., 'my desired text')]

      Here’s what this does:

      • //*[contains(., 'my desired text')] searches for any node in the document.
      • The contains(., 'my desired text') function checks the entire node’s text content (including all child nodes) to see if it holds your desired text.

      This should return the parent node that contains your specified text anywhere in its children! Just make sure to handle the returned nodes properly since it might give you multiple elements if there are several matches.

      Hope this helps clear up some of the frustration! Don’t hesitate to ask if you have more questions or need further examples. Good luck!


    2. To extract a parent node based on the text contained within its child nodes in a complex XML structure, you can utilize a combination of XPath functions. Given your requirement, an effective approach is to use the `//node[contains(., ‘my desired text’)]` expression, where the dot (`.`) represents the current node as well as its child nodes. This will allow you to search for the text ‘my desired text’ anywhere within the hierarchy of each ‘node’, efficiently capturing it regardless of how deeply nested it may be.
      If you need to ensure that the matching text is found anywhere beneath the level of the ‘node’ while still retrieving the parent element, you might want to refine your query to `//node[.//*/text()[contains(., ‘my desired text’)]]`. This XPath selects any ‘node’ that has a descendant element (indicated by `.*`) that contains the desired text. Using these expressions will help you gather your intended parent nodes without the risk of overlooking relevant entries due to nesting.