XML::LibXML::Text - XML::LibXML Class for Text Nodes

  $text = XML::LibXML::Text->new( $content ); 
  $nodedata = $text->data;
  $text->setData( $text_content );
  $text->substringData($offset, $length);
  $text->appendData( $somedata );
  $text->insertData($offset, $string);
  $text->deleteData($offset, $length);
  $text->deleteDataString($remstring, $all);
  $text->replaceData($offset, $length, $string);
  $text->replaceDataString($old, $new, $flag);
  $text->replaceDataRegEx( $search_cond, $replace_cond, $reflags );

Different to the DOM specification XML::LibXML implements the text node as the base class of all character data node. Therefor there exists no CharacterData class. This allow one to use all methods that are available for textnodes as well for Comments or CDATA-sections.

new

  $text = XML::LibXML::Text->new( $content );

The constuctor of the class. It creates an unbound text node.

data

  $nodedata = $text->data;

Although there exists the nodeValue attribute in the Node class, the DOM specification defines data as a separate attribute. XML::LibXML implements these two attributes not as different attributes, but as aliases, such as libxml2 does. Therefore

   $text->data;

and

   $text->nodeValue;

will have the same result and are not different entities.

setData($string)

  $text->setData( $text_content );

This function sets or replaces text content to a node. The node has to be of the type text, cdata or comment.

substringData($offset,$length)

  $text->substringData($offset, $length);

Extracts a range of data from the node. (DOM Spec) This function takes the two parameters CW$offset and CW$length and returns the substring, if available. If the node contains no data or CW$offset refers to an nonexisting string index, this function will return undef. If CW$length is out of range substringData will return the data starting at CW$offset instead of causing an error.

appendData($string)

  $text->appendData( $somedata );

Appends a string to the end of the existing data. If the current text node contains no data, this function has the same effect as setData.

insertData($offset,$string)

  $text->insertData($offset, $string);

Inserts the parameter CW$string at the given CW$offset of the existing data of the node. This operation will not remove existing data, but change the order of the existing data. The CW$offset has to be a positive value. If CW$offset is out of range, insertData will have the same behaviour as appendData.

  $text->deleteData($offset, $length);

This method removes a chunk from the existing node data at the given offset. The CW$length parameter tells, how many characters should be removed from the string.

deleteDataString($string, [$all])

  $text->deleteDataString($remstring, $all);

This method removes a chunk from the existing node data. Since the DOM spec is quite unhandy if you already know which string to remove from a text node, this method allows more perlish code :) The functions takes two parameters: CW$string and optional the CW$all flag. If CW$all is not set, undef or 0, deleteDataString will remove only the first occourance of CW$string. If CW$all is TRUE deleteDataString will remove all occurrences of CW$string from the node data.

  $text->replaceData($offset, $length, $string);

The DOM style version to replace node data.

  $text->replaceDataString($old, $new, $flag);

The more programmer friendly version of replaceData() :) Instead of giving offsets and length one can specify the exact string ($oldstring) to be replaced. Additionally the CW$all flag allows to replace all occourences of CW$oldstring.

  $text->replaceDataRegEx( $search_cond, $replace_cond, $reflags );

This method replaces the node's data by a simple regular expression. Optional, this function allows to pass some flags that will be added as flag to the replace statement. NOTE: This is a shortcut for

   my $datastr = $node->getData();
   $datastr =~ s/somecond/replacement/g; # 'g' is just an example for any flag
   $node->setData( $datastr );

This function can make things easier to read for simple replacements. For more complex variants it is recommended to use the code snippet above.

Matt Sergeant, Christian Glahn, =head1 VERSION

1.58

2001-2004, AxKit.com Ltd; 2002-2004 Christian Glahn, All rights reserved.