Removing DOM nodes when traversing a NodeList

Question

I\'m about to delete certain elements in an XML document, using code like the following:

NodeList nodes = ...;
for (int i = 0; i < nodes.getLength(); i++)         


        

Answer 1

So, given that removing nodes while traversing the NodeList will cause the NodeList to be updated to reflect the new reality, I assume that my indices will become invalid and this will not work.

So, it seems the solution is to keep track of the elements to delete during the traversal, and delete them all afterward, once the NodeList is no longer used.

NodeList nodes = ...;
Set<Element> targetElements = new HashSet<Element>();
for (int i = 0; i < nodes.getLength(); i++) {
  Element e = (Element)nodes.item(i);
  if (certain criteria involving Element e) {
    targetElements.add(e);
  }
}
for (Element e: targetElements) {
  e.getParentNode().removeChild(e);
}