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Hi all,

I need an XPath which selects all nodes of a specific name which start
with a text node, i.e. I want the expression to select:

<x>
abcdefg
<y>hijklmn</y>
</x>

but NOT

<x>
<y>hijklmn</y>
abcdefg
</x>

I cant' seem to find the correct expression. Can somebody help?

Thanks,

Thomas

Thomas Schmidt wrote:
> I need an XPath which selects all nodes of a specific name which start
> with a text node

Node with specific name (x) with a first child that is a text node.

x/node()[0][self::text()]


--
() ASCII Ribbon Campaign | Joe Kesselman
/\ Stamp out HTML e-mail! | System architexture and kinetic poetry

Thomas Schmidt wrote:
> I need an XPath which selects all nodes of a specific name which start
> with a text node

Node with specific name (x) with a first child that is a text node.

x/node()[1][self::text()]


--
() ASCII Ribbon Campaign | Joe Kesselman
/\ Stamp out HTML e-mail! | System architexture and kinetic poetry

Thomas Schmidt <> wrote in
<. com>:
> I need an XPath which selects all nodes of a specific name
> which start with a text node, i.e. I want the expression
> to select:

x[child::node()[1][self::text()]]

> <x>
> abcdefg
> <y>hijklmn</y>
> </x>
>
> but NOT
>
> <x>
> <y>hijklmn</y>
> abcdefg
> </x>

In both of your examples the first child of the x element is
a text node, though.

--
....the pleasure of obedience is pretty thin compared with
the pleasure of hearing a rotten tomato hit someone in the
rear end. -- Garrison Keillor

Thomas Schmidt wrote:

> I need an XPath which selects all nodes of a specific name which start
> with a text node, i.e. I want the expression to select:
>
> <x>
> abcdefg
> <y>hijklmn</y>
> </x>
>
> but NOT
>
> <x>
> <y>hijklmn</y>
> abcdefg
> </x>

Please note that x has as its first child a text node with white space.
So
//x[node()[1][self::text()]]
holds for both samples.
//x[node()[1][self::text() and normalize-space(.)]]
does hold for the first sample only.


--

Martin Honnen
http://JavaScript.FAQTs.com/

> Please note that x has as its first child a text node with white space.

Good point.

--
Joe Kesselman / Beware the fury of a patient man. -- John Dryden

Joe Kesselman wrote:
> Node with specific name (x) with a first child that is a text node.
> x/node()[1][self::text()]

Whups. Sloppy; that selects the text node. Pavel's solution is correct
for the question posed

x[child::node()[1][self::text()]]

and as Martin pointed out, if you want only non-whitespace textnodes you
can get that using

x[child::node()[1][self::text() and normalize-space(.)]]


--
() ASCII Ribbon Campaign | Joe Kesselman
/\ Stamp out HTML e-mail! | System architexture and kinetic poetry

> > Please note that x has as its first child a text node with white space.

Yes, I hadn't thought of whitespace... It's working now.