XPath to select tags near (before and after) another element?

Question

It is possible to select all br tags before and after an h3 element with XPath?

This selects only the first br tag: //h3/following-sibling::*[1][name()='br']

Here is a code snippet, I would like to select the 2 br tags before and the 2 br tags after the h3 tag:

<br />22111 Hamburg<br />(U- und Busbahnhof Billstedt)<br /><br /><h3>Wir treffen uns</h3><br /><br />um Erfahrungen auszutauschen...

Solution

Notes:

1. You probably don't mean all h3 elements but rather one particular h3 element.
2. [1] is causing only the next following sibling to be selected.
3. Rather than *[name()='br'], use br.
4. Be sure you mean following-sibling, not following.

Then this XPath,

//h3[.='Heading']/following-sibling::br

will select all br elements are siblings to the h3 element whose string value is Heading.

---

Update

For this HTML,

<div>
   <br/>22111 Hamburg<br/>
   (U- und Busbahnhof Billstedt)
   <br/><br/>
   <h3>Wir treffen uns</h3>
   <br/><br/>
   um Erfahrungen auszutauschen...
   <br/>abc<br/>
</div>

this XPath will select the two br sibling elements immediately before the targeted h3,

//h3[.='Wir treffen uns']/preceding-sibling::br[position() < 3]

this XPath will select the two br sibling elements immediately after the targeted h3,

//h3[.='Wir treffen uns']/following-sibling::br[position() < 3]

If you want to grab all 4 at the same time, you can combine the before and after XPath expressions above via |:

//h3[.='Wir treffen uns']/preceding-sibling::br[position() < 3]
|
//h3[.='Wir treffen uns']/following-sibling::br[position() < 3]

---

Update 2

If you want the number range to include all nodes, not just br elements, when counting, then use this XPath:

//h3[.='Wir treffen uns']/preceding-sibling::node()[position() < 3][self::br]
|
//h3[.='Wir treffen uns']/following-sibling::node()[position() < 3][self::br]

This works by testing node() position first, then making sure that those nodes within range are br elements via [self::br]. Be aware that all text nodes will count, even ones containing only whitespace.

Comments

[stefkey]

Thanks a lot. Now I have add a code snipped. What do you think?

[kjhughes]

I think you should think carefully about what you really want to select. If I show you how to select 2 br elements before and after a h3, what will you do with them? They have no content themselves.

[stefkey]

hi and thanks! I would like to remove the <br> tags, because after and before the h3 tag there is now a padding, and the space with be is to large.

[kjhughes]

Ok, I've updated the answer to show you how to grab 2 br elements before and 2 br elements after the targeted h3.

[stefkey]

Thanks a lot! And Interesting! And when there are sometimes 3 or 4 brtags? Can I set easy <5 instead <3 ?

[kjhughes]

Yes, you can change the 3 if your requirements change. Remember two points: (1) First position is 1, not 0 and (2) count away from the h3.

[stefkey]

ok, i check it, but it removes all following br tags. What I search is a code to remove only brtags directly after the h3 tag. Not the br tags after a text after a h3 tag. `<h3>alright</h3><br><br>Text with important br-Tag<br>...

[kjhughes]

Now you're changing the requirements (again). Last time: I've updated the answer to accomodate your latest request. If this helps, please accept this answer. Thanks.

[stefkey]

Thanks so much! Great, your are the xpath-boss. It's actually possible to solve. It works, many thanks! And sorry for the changing requirements, I will try in the future the question to ask clearly. But its difficult for me, I have to take more time to build the question.

[myworldbox]

perfect answer bro