Java JDOM Element removeAttribute() Method

The Java JDOM removeAttribute() method of Element class is used to remove attributes of an XML document. This method returns a boolean value after removing the attribute. We can remove attributes by passing Attribute object or local name of the attribute. Using this method, an attribute within a particular namespace can be removed.

Syntax

Following is the syntax of the Java JDOM Element removeAttribute() method −

Element.removeAttribute(attname);
Element.removeAttribute(attname, ns);
Element.removeAttribute(attribute);

Parameters

The Java removeAttribute() method is a polymorphic method and it accepts the following parameters −

• attname − the name of the attribute to be removed.
• ns − the namespace of the attribute that needs to be removed.
• attribute − the Attribute object of an XML Element.

Return Value

The Java removeAttribute() method returns true if attribute is removed; else returns false.

Example 1

We need to parse the following college.xml file −

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <department xmlns:buz ="https://attribute/ns/buz"  buz:id="101" code="CS" id="90">
      <name>Computer Science</name>
      <staffCount>20</staffCount>
   </department>

The following basic Java program uses the Java JDOM Element removeAttribute() method to remove an attribute.

import java.io.File;
import org.jdom2.Document;
import org.jdom2.Element;
import org.jdom2.input.SAXBuilder;
import org.jdom2.output.Format;
import org.jdom2.output.XMLOutputter;

public class RemoveAttribute {
   public static void main(String args[]) {
      try {	
    	 //Read the document and get the root
    	 SAXBuilder saxBuilder = new SAXBuilder();
    	 File inputFile = new File("college.xml");
    	 Document doc = saxBuilder.build(inputFile);
	     Element root = doc.getRootElement();
	     //remove attribute
	     root.removeAttribute("id");
	     XMLOutputter xmlOutput = new XMLOutputter();
	     xmlOutput.setFormat(Format.getPrettyFormat());
	     xmlOutput.output(doc, System.out);	        
      } catch (Exception e) {
    	 e.printStackTrace();
      }
   }
}

The XML document after removing 'id' attribute is displayed.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<department xmlns:buz="https://attribute/ns/buz" buz:id="101" code="CS">
  <name>Computer Science</name>
  <staffCount>20</staffCount>
</department>

Example 2

The removeAttribute() method can be used to remove an attribute within a specific namespace.

import java.io.File;
import org.jdom2.Document;
import org.jdom2.Element;
import org.jdom2.Namespace;
import org.jdom2.input.SAXBuilder;
import org.jdom2.output.Format;
import org.jdom2.output.XMLOutputter;

public class RemoveAttribute {
   public static void main(String args[]) {
      try {	
    	 //Read the document and get the root
    	 SAXBuilder saxBuilder = new SAXBuilder();
    	 File inputFile = new File("college.xml");
    	 Document doc = saxBuilder.build(inputFile);
	     Element root = doc.getRootElement();
	     //remove attribute
	     Namespace ns = Namespace.getNamespace("https://attribute/ns/buz");
	     root.removeAttribute("id",ns);
	     XMLOutputter xmlOutput = new XMLOutputter();
	     xmlOutput.setFormat(Format.getPrettyFormat());
	     xmlOutput.output(doc, System.out);	        
      } catch (Exception e) {
    	 e.printStackTrace();
      }
   }
}

The XML document after removing 'id' attribute with prefix 'buz' is displayed.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<department xmlns:buz="https://attribute/ns/buz" code="CS" id="90">
  <name>Computer Science</name>
  <staffCount>20</staffCount>
</department>

Example 3

The removeAttribute() method can used to remove attributes by passing the Attribute objects as arguments.

import java.io.File;
import java.util.List;
import org.jdom2.Attribute;
import org.jdom2.Document;
import org.jdom2.Element;
import org.jdom2.input.SAXBuilder;
import org.jdom2.output.Format;
import org.jdom2.output.XMLOutputter;

public class RemoveAttribute {
   public static void main(String args[]) {
      try {	
    	 //Read the document and get the root
    	 SAXBuilder saxBuilder = new SAXBuilder();
    	 File inputFile = new File("college.xml");
    	 Document doc = saxBuilder.build(inputFile);
	     Element root = doc.getRootElement();
	     //remove attribute
	     List<Attribute> attrList = root.getAttributes();
	     root.removeAttribute(attrList.get(1));
	     XMLOutputter xmlOutput = new XMLOutputter();
	     xmlOutput.setFormat(Format.getPrettyFormat());
	     xmlOutput.output(doc, System.out);	        
      } catch (Exception e) {
    	 e.printStackTrace();
      }
   }
}

The XML document after removing 'code' attribute is displayed.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<department xmlns:buz="https://attribute/ns/buz" buz:id="101" id="90">
  <name>Computer Science</name>
  <staffCount>20</staffCount>
</department>