Remove node and previous node if matched node is empty

Question

It is possible to remove parent node and previous parent node if the matched node is empty?

Example:

<div>
    <div>
        <p>Banana
        </p>
    </div>
    <table>
        <tbody>Not empty</tbody>
        <tr>
            <td>A</td>
        </tr>
    </table>
    <div>
        <p>Apple
        </p>
    </div>
    <table>
        <tbody></tbody>
    </table>
</div>

If <table>-><tbody> is empty I would like to remove <table> and previous <div> node.

Example output:

<div>
    <div>
        <p>Banana
        </p>
    </div>
    <table>
        <tbody>Not empty</tbody>
        <tr>
            <td>A</td>
        </tr>
    </table>
</div>

You're expected to show an attempt. Hint: Add to the identity transform two templates that suppress (a) div elements followed by a table element that contains an empty tbody element and (b) such table elements themselves. — kjhughes
– kjhughes, Commented Dec 5, 2021 at 0:45

Michael Kay · Accepted Answer · 2021-12-06 09:34:03Z

1

There is no operation in XSLT to "remove" a node. A node is removed unless you actively copy it to the output. If the template rule that matches a node is empty (does nothing) then the node will effectively be removed. So you can write

<xsl:template match="div[following-sibling::*[1]
                        [self::table[not(string(tbody))]]]"/>

Which matches any div followed by a table with an empty tbody, and does nothing.

This assumes that your stylesheet is processing elements using a recursive-descent apply-templates operation in the normal way, and that this is the best-match rule for these nodes.

edited Dec 6, 2021 at 9:34

answered Dec 5, 2021 at 9:39

Michael Kay

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2 Comments

Bohumír Mäsiar Over a year ago

Thanks Michael, I can not edit your answer, but it has missing one right bracket at the end.

Michael Kay Over a year ago

Edit applied, thanks

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