class REXML::Element

Returns a new REXML::Element object.

When no arguments are given, returns an element with name 'UNDEFINED':

e = REXML::Element.new # => <UNDEFINED/>
e.class                # => REXML::Element
e.name                 # => "UNDEFINED"

When only argument name is given, returns an element of the given name:

REXML::Element.new('foo') # => <foo/>

When only argument element is given, it must be an REXML::Element object; returns a shallow copy of the given element:

e0 = REXML::Element.new('foo')
e1 = REXML::Element.new(e0) # => <foo/>

When argument parent is also given, it must be an REXML::Parent object:

e = REXML::Element.new('foo', REXML::Parent.new)
e.parent # => #<REXML::Parent @parent=nil, @children=[<foo/>]>

When argument context is also given, it must be a hash representing the context for the element; see Element Context:

e = REXML::Element.new('foo', nil, {raw: :all})
e.context # => {:raw=>:all}

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 319
def initialize( arg = UNDEFINED, parent=nil, context=nil )
  super(parent)

  @elements = Elements.new(self)
  @attributes = Attributes.new(self)
  @context = context

  if arg.kind_of? String
    self.name = arg
  elsif arg.kind_of? Element
    self.name = arg.expanded_name
    arg.attributes.each_attribute{ |attribute|
      @attributes << Attribute.new( attribute )
    }
    @context = arg.context
  end
end

With integer argument index given, returns the child at offset index, or nil if none:

d = REXML::Document.new '><root><a/>text<b/>more<c/></root>'
root = d.root
(0..root.size).each do |index|
  node = root[index]
  p "#{index}: #{node} (#{node.class})"
end

Output:

"0: <a/> (REXML::Element)"
"1: text (REXML::Text)"
"2: <b/> (REXML::Element)"
"3: more (REXML::Text)"
"4: <c/> (REXML::Element)"
"5:  (NilClass)"

With string argument attr_name given, returns the string value for the given attribute name if it exists, otherwise nil:

d = REXML::Document.new('<root attr="value"></root>')
root = d.root
root['attr']   # => "value"
root['nosuch'] # => nil

With symbol argument attr_sym given, returns [attr_sym.to_s]:

root[:attr]   # => "value"
root[:nosuch] # => nil

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 1246
def [](name_or_index)
  case name_or_index
  when String
    attributes[name_or_index]
  when Symbol
    attributes[name_or_index.to_s]
  else
    super
  end
end

Adds an attribute to this element, overwriting any existing attribute by the same name.

With string argument name and object value are given, adds the attribute created with that name and value:

e = REXML::Element.new
e.add_attribute('attr', 'value') # => "value"
e['attr'] # => "value"
e.add_attribute('attr', 'VALUE') # => "VALUE"
e['attr'] # => "VALUE"

With only attribute object attribute given, adds the given attribute:

a = REXML::Attribute.new('attr', 'value')
e.add_attribute(a) # => attr='value'
e['attr'] # => "value"
a = REXML::Attribute.new('attr', 'VALUE')
e.add_attribute(a) # => attr='VALUE'
e['attr'] # => "VALUE"

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 1345
def add_attribute( key, value=nil )
  if key.kind_of? Attribute
    @attributes << key
  else
    @attributes[key] = value
  end
end

Adds zero or more attributes to the element; returns the argument.

If hash argument hash is given, each key must be a string; adds each attribute created with the key/value pair:

e = REXML::Element.new
h = {'foo' => 'bar', 'baz' => 'bat'}
e.add_attributes(h)

If argument array is given, each array member must be a 2-element array <tt>[name, value]; each name must be a string:

e = REXML::Element.new
a = [['foo' => 'bar'], ['baz' => 'bat']]
e.add_attributes(a)

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 1376
def add_attributes hash
  if hash.kind_of? Hash
    hash.each_pair {|key, value| @attributes[key] = value }
  elsif hash.kind_of? Array
    hash.each { |value| @attributes[ value[0] ] = value[1] }
  end
end

Adds a child element, optionally setting attributes on the added element; returns the added element.

With string argument name, creates a new element with that name and adds the new element as a child:

e0 = REXML::Element.new('foo')
e0.add_element('bar')
e0[0] # => <bar/>

With argument name and hash argument attributes, sets attributes on the new element:

e0.add_element('baz', {'bat' => '0', 'bam' => '1'})
e0[1] # => <baz bat='0' bam='1'/>

With element argument element, adds that element as a child:

e0 = REXML::Element.new('foo')
e1 = REXML::Element.new('bar')
e0.add_element(e1)
e0[0] # => <bar/>

With argument element and hash argument attributes, sets attributes on the added element:

e0.add_element(e1, {'bat' => '0', 'bam' => '1'})
e0[1] # => <bar bat='0' bam='1'/>

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 732
def add_element element, attrs=nil
  raise "First argument must be either an element name, or an Element object" if element.nil?
  el = @elements.add(element)
  attrs.each do |key, value|
    el.attributes[key]=value
  end       if attrs.kind_of? Hash
  el
end

Adds a namespace to the element; returns self.

With the single argument prefix, adds a namespace using the given prefix and the namespace URI:

e = REXML::Element.new('foo')
e.add_namespace('bar')
e.namespaces # => {"xmlns"=>"bar"}

With both arguments prefix and uri given, adds a namespace using both arguments:

e.add_namespace('baz', 'bat')
e.namespaces # => {"xmlns"=>"bar", "baz"=>"bat"}

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 655
def add_namespace( prefix, uri=nil )
  unless uri
    @attributes["xmlns"] = prefix
  else
    prefix = "xmlns:#{prefix}" unless prefix =~ /^xmlns:/
    @attributes[ prefix ] = uri
  end
  self
end

Adds text to the element.

When string argument string is given, returns nil.

If the element has no child text node, creates a REXML::Text object using the string, honoring the current settings for whitespace and raw, then adds that node to the element:

d = REXML::Document.new('<a><b/></a>')
a = d.root
a.add_text('foo')
a.to_a # => [<b/>, "foo"]

If the element has child text nodes, appends the string to the last text node:

d = REXML::Document.new('<a>foo<b/>bar</a>')
a = d.root
a.add_text('baz')
a.to_a # => ["foo", <b/>, "barbaz"]
a.add_text('baz')
a.to_a # => ["foo", <b/>, "barbazbaz"]

When text node argument text_node is given, appends the node as the last text node in the element; returns self:

d = REXML::Document.new('<a>foo<b/>bar</a>')
a = d.root
a.add_text(REXML::Text.new('baz'))
a.to_a # => ["foo", <b/>, "bar", "baz"]
a.add_text(REXML::Text.new('baz'))
a.to_a # => ["foo", <b/>, "bar", "baz", "baz"]

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 1147
def add_text( text )
  if text.kind_of? String
    if @children[-1].kind_of? Text
      @children[-1] << text
      return
    end
    text = Text.new( text, whitespace(), nil, raw() )
  end
  self << text unless text.nil?
  return self
end

Returns the string value for the given attribute name.

With only argument name given, returns the value of the named attribute if it exists, otherwise nil:

xml_string = <<-EOT
  <root xmlns="ns0">
    <a xmlns="ns1" attr="value"></a>
    <b xmlns="ns2" attr="value"></b>
    <c attr="value"/>
 </root>
EOT
d = REXML::Document.new(xml_string)
root = d.root
a = root[1] # => <a xmlns='ns1' attr='value'/>
a.attribute('attr') # => attr='value'
a.attribute('nope') # => nil

With arguments name and namespace given, returns the value of the named attribute if it exists, otherwise nil:

xml_string = "<root xmlns:a='a' a:x='a:x' x='x'/>"
document = REXML::Document.new(xml_string)
document.root.attribute("x")      # => x='x'
document.root.attribute("x", "a") # => a:x='a:x'

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 1287
def attribute( name, namespace=nil )
  prefix = namespaces.key(namespace) if namespace
  prefix = nil if prefix == 'xmlns'

  ret_val =
    attributes.get_attribute( prefix ? "#{prefix}:#{name}" : name )

  return ret_val unless ret_val.nil?
  return nil if prefix.nil?

  # now check that prefix'es namespace is not the same as the
  # default namespace
  return nil unless ( namespaces[ prefix ] == namespaces[ 'xmlns' ] )

  attributes.get_attribute( name )

end

Returns a frozen array of the REXML::CData children of the element:

xml_string = <<-EOT
  <root>
    <![CDATA[foo]]>
    <![CDATA[bar]]>
  </root>
EOT
d = REXML::Document.new(xml_string)
cds = d.root.cdatas      # => ["foo", "bar"]
cds.frozen?              # => true
cds.map {|cd| cd.class } # => [REXML::CData, REXML::CData]

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 1420
def cdatas
  find_all { |child| child.kind_of? CData }.freeze
end

Returns a shallow copy of the element, containing the name and attributes, but not the parent or children:

e = REXML::Element.new('foo')
e.add_attributes({'bar' => 0, 'baz' => 1})
e.clone # => <foo bar='0' baz='1'/>

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 383
def clone
  self.class.new self
end

Returns a frozen array of the REXML::Comment children of the element:

xml_string = <<-EOT
  <root>
    <!--foo-->
    <!--bar-->
  </root>
EOT
d = REXML::Document.new(xml_string)
cs = d.root.comments
cs.frozen?            # => true
cs.map {|c| c.class } # => [REXML::Comment, REXML::Comment]
cs.map {|c| c.to_s }  # => ["foo", "bar"]

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 1441
def comments
  find_all { |child| child.kind_of? Comment }.freeze
end

Removes a named attribute if it exists; returns the removed attribute if found, otherwise nil:

e = REXML::Element.new('foo')
e.add_attribute('bar', 'baz')
e.delete_attribute('bar') # => <bar/>
e.delete_attribute('bar') # => nil

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 1395
def delete_attribute(key)
  attr = @attributes.get_attribute(key)
  attr.remove unless attr.nil?
end

Deletes a child element.

When 1-based integer argument index is given, removes and returns the child element at that offset if it exists; indexing does not include text nodes; returns nil if the element does not exist:

d = REXML::Document.new '<a><b/>text<c/></a>'
a = d.root          # => <a> ... </>
a.delete_element(1) # => <b/>
a.delete_element(1) # => <c/>
a.delete_element(1) # => nil

When element argument element is given, removes and returns that child element if it exists, otherwise returns nil:

d = REXML::Document.new '<a><b/>text<c/></a>'
a = d.root          # => <a> ... </>
c = a[2]            # => <c/>
a.delete_element(c) # => <c/>
a.delete_element(c) # => nil

When xpath argument xpath is given, removes and returns the element at xpath if it exists, otherwise returns nil:

d = REXML::Document.new '<a><b/>text<c/></a>'
a = d.root              # => <a> ... </>
a.delete_element('//c') # => <c/>
a.delete_element('//c') # => nil

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 778
def delete_element element
  @elements.delete element
end

Removes a namespace from the element.

With no argument, removes the default namespace:

d = REXML::Document.new "<a xmlns:foo='bar' xmlns='twiddle'/>"
d.to_s # => "<a xmlns:foo='bar' xmlns='twiddle'/>"
d.root.delete_namespace # => <a xmlns:foo='bar'/>
d.to_s # => "<a xmlns:foo='bar'/>"

With argument namespace, removes the specified namespace:

d.root.delete_namespace('foo')
d.to_s # => "<a/>"

Does nothing if no such namespace is found:

d.root.delete_namespace('nosuch')
d.to_s # => "<a/>"

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 687
def delete_namespace namespace="xmlns"
  namespace = "xmlns:#{namespace}" unless namespace == 'xmlns'
  attribute = attributes.get_attribute(namespace)
  attribute.remove unless attribute.nil?
  self
end

If the element is part of a document, returns that document:

d = REXML::Document.new('<a><b><c/></b></a>')
top_element = d.first
child = top_element.first
top_element.document == d # => true
child.document == d       # => true

If the element is not part of a document, returns nil:

REXML::Element.new.document # => nil

For a document, returns self:

d.document == d           # => true

Related: root, root_node.

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 475
def document
  rt = root
  rt.parent if rt
end

Calls the given block with each child element:

d = REXML::Document.new '<a><b>b</b><c>b</c><d>d</d><e/></a>'
a = d.root
a.each_element {|e| p e }

Output:

<b> ... </>
<c> ... </>
<d> ... </>
<e/>

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 930
def each_element( xpath=nil, &block ) # :yields: Element
  @elements.each( xpath, &block )
end

Calls the given block with each child element that meets given criteria.

When only string argument attr_name is given, calls the block with each child element that has that attribute:

d = REXML::Document.new '<a><b id="1"/><c id="2"/><d id="1"/><e/></a>'
a = d.root
a.each_element_with_attribute('id') {|e| p e }

Output:

<b id='1'/>
<c id='2'/>
<d id='1'/>

With argument attr_name and string argument value given, calls the block with each child element that has that attribute with that value:

a.each_element_with_attribute('id', '1') {|e| p e }

Output:

<b id='1'/>
<d id='1'/>

With arguments attr_name, value, and integer argument max given, calls the block with at most max child elements:

a.each_element_with_attribute('id', '1', 1) {|e| p e }

Output:

<b id='1'/>

With all arguments given, including xpath, calls the block with only those child elements that meet the first three criteria, and also match the given xpath:

a.each_element_with_attribute('id', '1', 2, '//d') {|e| p e }

Output:

<d id='1'/>

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 847
def each_element_with_attribute( key, value=nil, max=0, name=nil, &block ) # :yields: Element
  each_with_something( proc {|child|
    if value.nil?
      child.attributes[key] != nil
    else
      child.attributes[key]==value
    end
  }, max, name, &block )
end

Calls the given block with each child element that meets given criteria.

With no arguments, calls the block with each child element that has text:

d = REXML::Document.new '<a><b>b</b><c>b</c><d>d</d><e/></a>'
a = d.root
a.each_element_with_text {|e| p e }

Output:

<b> ... </>
<c> ... </>
<d> ... </>

With the single string argument text, calls the block with each element that has exactly that text:

a.each_element_with_text('b') {|e| p e }

Output:

<b> ... </>
<c> ... </>

With argument text and integer argument max, calls the block with at most max elements:

a.each_element_with_text('b', 1) {|e| p e }

Output:

<b> ... </>

With all arguments given, including xpath, calls the block with only those child elements that meet the first two criteria, and also match the given xpath:

a.each_element_with_text('b', 2, '//c') {|e| p e }

Output:

<c> ... </>

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 904
def each_element_with_text( text=nil, max=0, name=nil, &block ) # :yields: Element
  each_with_something( proc {|child|
    if text.nil?
      child.has_text?
    else
      child.text == text
    end
  }, max, name, &block )
end

Returns an array of the elements that match the given xpath:

xml_string = <<-EOT
<root>
  <a level='1'>
    <a level='2'/>
  </a>
</root>
EOT
d = REXML::Document.new(xml_string)
d.root.get_elements('//a') # => [<a level='1'> ... </>, <a level='2'/>]

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 949
def get_elements( xpath )
  @elements.to_a( xpath )
end

Returns the first text node child in a specified element, if it exists, nil otherwise.

With no argument, returns the first text node from self:

d = REXML::Document.new "<p>some text <b>this is bold!</b> more text</p>"
d.root.get_text.class # => REXML::Text
d.root.get_text       # => "some text "

With argument xpath, returns the first text node from the element that matches xpath:

d.root.get_text(1) # => "this is bold!"

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 1053
def get_text path = nil
  rv = nil
  if path
    element = @elements[ path ]
    rv = element.get_text unless element.nil?
  else
    rv = @children.find { |node| node.kind_of? Text }
  end
  return rv
end

Returns true if the element has attributes, false otherwise:

d = REXML::Document.new('<root><a attr="val"/><b/></root>')
a, b = *d.root
a.has_attributes? # => true
b.has_attributes? # => false

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 1315
def has_attributes?
  return !@attributes.empty?
end

Returns true if the element has one or more element children, false otherwise:

d = REXML::Document.new '<a><b/>text<c/></a>'
a = d.root              # => <a> ... </>
a.has_elements? # => true
b = a[0]        # => <b/>
b.has_elements? # => false

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 794
def has_elements?
  !@elements.empty?
end

Returns true if the element has one or more text noded, false otherwise:

d = REXML::Document.new '<a><b/>text<c/></a>'
a = d.root
a.has_text? # => true
b = a[0]
b.has_text? # => false

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 1002
def has_text?
  not text().nil?
end

Returns true if whitespace nodes are ignored for the element.

See Element Context.

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 513
def ignore_whitespace_nodes
  @ignore_whitespace_nodes = false
  if @context
    if @context[:ignore_whitespace_nodes]
      @ignore_whitespace_nodes =
        (@context[:ignore_whitespace_nodes] == :all or
         @context[:ignore_whitespace_nodes].include? expanded_name)
    end
  end
end

Returns a string representation of the element.

For an element with no attributes and no children, shows the element name:

REXML::Element.new.inspect # => "<UNDEFINED/>"

Shows attributes, if any:

e = REXML::Element.new('foo')
e.add_attributes({'bar' => 0, 'baz' => 1})
e.inspect # => "<foo bar='0' baz='1'/>"

Shows an ellipsis (...), if there are child elements:

e.add_element(REXML::Element.new('bar'))
e.add_element(REXML::Element.new('baz'))
e.inspect # => "<foo bar='0' baz='1'> ... </>"

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 358
def inspect
  rv = "<#@expanded_name"

  @attributes.each_attribute do |attr|
    rv << " "
    attr.write( rv, 0 )
  end

  if children.size > 0
    rv << "> ... </>"
  else
    rv << "/>"
  end
end

Returns a frozen array of the REXML::Instruction children of the element:

xml_string = <<-EOT
  <root>
    <?target0 foo?>
    <?target1 bar?>
  </root>
EOT
d = REXML::Document.new(xml_string)
is = d.root.instructions
is.frozen?             # => true
is.map {|i| i.class } # => [REXML::Instruction, REXML::Instruction]
is.map {|i| i.to_s }  # => ["<?target0 foo?>", "<?target1 bar?>"]

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 1462
def instructions
  find_all { |child| child.kind_of? Instruction }.freeze
end

Returns the string namespace URI for the element, possibly deriving from one of its ancestors.

xml_string = <<-EOT
  <root>
     <a xmlns='1' xmlns:y='2'>
       <b/>
       <c xmlns:z='3'/>
     </a>
  </root>
EOT
d = REXML::Document.new(xml_string)
b = d.elements['//b']
b.namespace      # => "1"
b.namespace('y') # => "2"
b.namespace('nosuch') # => nil

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 618
def namespace(prefix=nil)
  if prefix.nil?
    prefix = prefix()
  end
  if prefix == ''
    prefix = "xmlns"
  else
    prefix = "xmlns:#{prefix}" unless prefix[0,5] == 'xmlns'
  end
  ns = nil
  target = self
  while ns.nil? and target
    ns = target.attributes[prefix]
    target = target.parent
  end
  ns = '' if ns.nil? and prefix == 'xmlns'
  return ns
end

Returns a hash of all defined namespaces in the element and its ancestors:

xml_string = <<-EOT
  <root>
     <a xmlns:x='1' xmlns:y='2'>
       <b/>
       <c xmlns:z='3'/>
     </a>
  </root>
EOT
d = REXML::Document.new(xml_string)
d.elements['//a'].namespaces # => {"x"=>"1", "y"=>"2"}
d.elements['//b'].namespaces # => {"x"=>"1", "y"=>"2"}
d.elements['//c'].namespaces # => {"x"=>"1", "y"=>"2", "z"=>"3"}

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 591
def namespaces
  namespaces = {}
  namespaces = parent.namespaces if parent
  namespaces = namespaces.merge( attributes.namespaces )
  return namespaces
end

Returns the next sibling that is an element if it exists, niL otherwise:

d = REXML::Document.new '<a><b/>text<c/></a>'
d.root.elements['b'].next_element #-> <c/>
d.root.elements['c'].next_element #-> nil

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 963
def next_element
  element = next_sibling
  element = element.next_sibling until element.nil? or element.kind_of? Element
  return element
end

Returns symbol :element:

d = REXML::Document.new('<a/>')
a = d.root  # => <a/>
a.node_type # => :element

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 1168
def node_type
  :element
end

Returns an array of the string prefixes (names) of all defined namespaces in the element and its ancestors:

xml_string = <<-EOT
  <root>
     <a xmlns:x='1' xmlns:y='2'>
       <b/>
       <c xmlns:z='3'/>
     </a>
  </root>
EOT
d = REXML::Document.new(xml_string, {compress_whitespace: :all})
d.elements['//a'].prefixes # => ["x", "y"]
d.elements['//b'].prefixes # => ["x", "y"]
d.elements['//c'].prefixes # => ["x", "y", "z"]

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 565
def prefixes
  prefixes = []
  prefixes = parent.prefixes if parent
  prefixes |= attributes.prefixes
  return prefixes
end

Returns the previous sibling that is an element if it exists, niL otherwise:

d = REXML::Document.new '<a><b/>text<c/></a>'
d.root.elements['c'].previous_element #-> <b/>
d.root.elements['b'].previous_element #-> nil

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 979
def previous_element
  element = previous_sibling
  element = element.previous_sibling until element.nil? or element.kind_of? Element
  return element
end

Returns true if raw mode is set for the element.

See Element Context.

The evaluation is tested against expanded_name, and so is namespace sensitive.

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 533
def raw
  @raw = (@context and @context[:raw] and
          (@context[:raw] == :all or
           @context[:raw].include? expanded_name))
  @raw
end

Returns the most distant element (not document) ancestor of the element:

d = REXML::Document.new('<a><b><c/></b></a>')
top_element = d.first
child = top_element.first
top_element.root == top_element # => true
child.root == top_element       # => true

For a document, returns the topmost element:

d.root == top_element # => true

Related: root_node, document.

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 443
def root
  target = self
  while target
    return target.elements[1] if target.kind_of? Document
    parent = target.parent
    return target if parent.kind_of? Document or parent.nil?
    target = parent
  end
  nil
end

Returns the most distant ancestor of self.

When the element is part of a document, returns the root node of the document. Note that the root node is different from the document element; in this example a is document element and the root node is its parent:

d = REXML::Document.new('<a><b><c/></b></a>')
top_element = d.first      # => <a> ... </>
child = top_element.first  # => <b> ... </>
d.root_node == d           # => true
top_element.root_node == d # => true
child.root_node == d       # => true

When the element is not part of a document, but does have ancestor elements, returns the most distant ancestor element:

e0 = REXML::Element.new('foo')
e1 = REXML::Element.new('bar')
e1.parent = e0
e2 = REXML::Element.new('baz')
e2.parent = e1
e2.root_node == e0 # => true

When the element has no ancestor elements, returns self:

e = REXML::Element.new('foo')
e.root_node == e # => true

Related: root, document.

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 422
def root_node
  parent.nil? ? self : parent.root_node
end

Returns the text string from the first text node child in a specified element, if it exists, nil otherwise.

With no argument, returns the text from the first text node in self:

d = REXML::Document.new "<p>some text <b>this is bold!</b> more text</p>"
d.root.text.class # => String
d.root.text       # => "some text "

With argument xpath, returns text from the first text node in the element that matches xpath:

d.root.text(1) # => "this is bold!"

Note that an element may have multiple text nodes, possibly separated by other non-text children, as above. Even so, the returned value is the string text from the first such node.

Note also that the text note is retrieved by method get_text, and so is always normalized text.

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 1030
def text( path = nil )
  rv = get_text(path)
  return rv.value unless rv.nil?
  nil
end

Adds, replaces, or removes the first text node child in the element.

With string argument string, creates a new REXML::Text node containing that string, honoring the current settings for whitespace and row, then places the node as the first text child in the element; returns string.

If the element has no text child, the text node is added:

d = REXML::Document.new '<a><b/></a>'
d.root.text = 'foo' #-> '<a><b/>foo</a>'

If the element has a text child, it is replaced:

d.root.text = 'bar' #-> '<a><b/>bar</a>'

With argument nil, removes the first text child:

d.root.text = nil   #-> '<a><b/><c/></a>'

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 1089
def text=( text )
  if text.kind_of? String
    text = Text.new( text, whitespace(), nil, raw() )
  elsif !text.nil? and !text.kind_of? Text
    text = Text.new( text.to_s, whitespace(), nil, raw() )
  end
  old_text = get_text
  if text.nil?
    old_text.remove unless old_text.nil?
  else
    if old_text.nil?
      self << text
    else
      old_text.replace_with( text )
    end
  end
  return self
end

Returns a frozen array of the REXML::Text children of the element:

xml_string = '<root><a/>text<b/>more<c/></root>'
d = REXML::Document.new(xml_string)
ts = d.root.texts
ts.frozen?            # => true
ts.map {|t| t.class } # => [REXML::Text, REXML::Text]
ts.map {|t| t.to_s }  # => ["text", "more"]

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 1478
def texts
  find_all { |child| child.kind_of? Text }.freeze
end

Returns true if whitespace is respected for this element, false otherwise.

See Element Context.

The evaluation is tested against the element’s expanded_name, and so is namespace-sensitive.

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 490
def whitespace
  @whitespace = nil
  if @context
    if @context[:respect_whitespace]
      @whitespace = (@context[:respect_whitespace] == :all or
                     @context[:respect_whitespace].include? expanded_name)
    end
    @whitespace = false if (@context[:compress_whitespace] and
                            (@context[:compress_whitespace] == :all or
                             @context[:compress_whitespace].include? expanded_name)
                           )
  end
  @whitespace = true unless @whitespace == false
  @whitespace
end

DEPRECATED¶ ↑

See REXML::Formatters

Writes out this element, and recursively, all children.

output

output an object which supports ‘<< string’; this is where the

document will be written.

indent

An integer. If -1, no indenting will be used; otherwise, the indentation will be this number of spaces, and children will be indented an additional amount. Defaults to -1

transitive

If transitive is true and indent is >= 0, then the output will be pretty-printed in such a way that the added whitespace does not affect the parse tree of the document

ie_hack

This hack inserts a space before the /> on empty tags to address a limitation of Internet Explorer. Defaults to false

out = ''
doc.write( out )     #-> doc is written to the string 'out'
doc.write( $stdout ) #-> doc written to the console

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 1504
def write(output=$stdout, indent=-1, transitive=false, ie_hack=false)
  Kernel.warn("#{self.class.name}.write is deprecated.  See REXML::Formatters", uplevel: 1)
  formatter = if indent > -1
      if transitive
        require_relative "formatters/transitive"
        REXML::Formatters::Transitive.new( indent, ie_hack )
      else
        REXML::Formatters::Pretty.new( indent, ie_hack )
      end
    else
      REXML::Formatters::Default.new( ie_hack )
    end
  formatter.write( self, output )
end

Returns the string xpath to the element relative to the most distant parent:

d = REXML::Document.new('<a><b><c/></b></a>')
a = d.root # => <a> ... </>
b = a[0]   # => <b> ... </>
c = b[0]   # => <c/>
d.xpath    # => ""
a.xpath    # => "/a"
b.xpath    # => "/a/b"
c.xpath    # => "/a/b/c"

If there is no parent, returns the expanded name of the element:

e = REXML::Element.new('foo')
e.xpath    # => "foo"

# File lib/rexml/element.rb, line 1192
def xpath
  path_elements = []
  cur = self
  path_elements << __to_xpath_helper( self )
  while cur.parent
    cur = cur.parent
    path_elements << __to_xpath_helper( cur )
  end
  return path_elements.reverse.join( "/" )
end