Java : CharacterData (XML) with Examples
Last Modified : January 20, 2024 Published : May 8, 2022
CharacterData (Java SE 17 & JDK 17) API Examples.
You will find code examples on most CharacterData methods.
Summary
The CharacterData interface extends Node with a set of attributes and methods for accessing character data in the DOM.
API examples on this page uses the printDocument method below.
public void printDocument(Node node) throws TransformerException {
final var transformer = TransformerFactory.newInstance().newTransformer();
transformer.setOutputProperty(OutputKeys.OMIT_XML_DECLARATION, "yes");
final var result = new StreamResult(new StringWriter());
transformer.transform(new DOMSource(node), result);
System.out.println(result.getWriter());
}
final var xml = """
<root>abcd</root>
""";
final var builder = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance().newDocumentBuilder();
final var document = builder.parse(new ByteArrayInputStream(xml.getBytes()));
final var root = document.getDocumentElement();
System.out.println(root); // [root: null]
if (root.getFirstChild() instanceof CharacterData characterData) {
System.out.println(characterData); // [#text: abcd]
characterData.setData("XYZ");
// <root>XYZ</root>
printDocument(root);
}
Fields declared in Node
ATTRIBUTE_NODE, CDATA_SECTION_NODE, COMMENT_NODE, DOCUMENT_FRAGMENT_NODE, DOCUMENT_NODE, DOCUMENT_POSITION_CONTAINED_BY, DOCUMENT_POSITION_CONTAINS, DOCUMENT_POSITION_DISCONNECTED, DOCUMENT_POSITION_FOLLOWING, DOCUMENT_POSITION_IMPLEMENTATION_SPECIFIC, DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING, DOCUMENT_TYPE_NODE, ELEMENT_NODE, ENTITY_NODE, ENTITY_REFERENCE_NODE, NOTATION_NODE, PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION_NODE, TEXT_NODE
Please see the link below.
Methods
void appendData (String arg)
Append the string to the end of the character data of the node.
final var xml = """
<root>abcd</root>
""";
final var builder = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance().newDocumentBuilder();
final var document = builder.parse(new ByteArrayInputStream(xml.getBytes()));
final var root = document.getDocumentElement();
System.out.println(root); // [root: null]
if (root.getFirstChild() instanceof CharacterData characterData) {
System.out.println(characterData); // [#text: abcd]
characterData.appendData("XYZ");
// <root>abcdXYZ</root>
printDocument(root);
}
void deleteData (int offset, int count)
Remove a range of 16-bit units from the node.
final var xml = """
<root>abcdXYZ</root>
""";
final var builder = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance().newDocumentBuilder();
final var document = builder.parse(new ByteArrayInputStream(xml.getBytes()));
final var root = document.getDocumentElement();
System.out.println(root); // [root: null]
if (root.getFirstChild() instanceof CharacterData characterData) {
System.out.println(characterData); // [#text: abcdXYZ]
characterData.deleteData(0, 4);
// <root>XYZ</root>
printDocument(root);
characterData.deleteData(1, 2);
// <root>X</root>
printDocument(root);
}
String getData ()
The character data of the node that implements this interface.
final var xml = """
<root>abcd</root>
""";
final var builder = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance().newDocumentBuilder();
final var document = builder.parse(new ByteArrayInputStream(xml.getBytes()));
final var root = document.getDocumentElement();
System.out.println(root); // [root: null]
if (root.getFirstChild() instanceof CharacterData characterData) {
System.out.println(characterData); // [#text: abcd]
System.out.println(characterData.getData()); // abcd
System.out.println(characterData.getLength()); // 4
}
int getLength ()
The number of 16-bit units that are available through data and the substringData method below.
Please see getData().
void insertData (int offset, String arg)
Insert a string at the specified 16-bit unit offset.
final var xml = """
<root>XYZ</root>
""";
final var builder = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance().newDocumentBuilder();
final var document = builder.parse(new ByteArrayInputStream(xml.getBytes()));
final var root = document.getDocumentElement();
System.out.println(root); // [root: null]
if (root.getFirstChild() instanceof CharacterData characterData) {
System.out.println(characterData); // [#text: XYZ]
characterData.insertData(0, "abcd");
// <root>abcdXYZ</root>
printDocument(root);
characterData.insertData(4, "123");
// <root>abcd123XYZ</root>
printDocument(root);
}
void replaceData (int offset, int count, String arg)
Replace the characters starting at the specified 16-bit unit offset with the specified string.
final var xml = """
<root>012345</root>
""";
final var builder = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance().newDocumentBuilder();
final var document = builder.parse(new ByteArrayInputStream(xml.getBytes()));
final var root = document.getDocumentElement();
System.out.println(root); // [root: null]
if (root.getFirstChild() instanceof CharacterData characterData) {
System.out.println(characterData); // [#text: 012345]
characterData.replaceData(0, 2, "abcd");
// <root>abcd2345</root>
printDocument(root);
}
final var xml = """
<root>012345</root>
""";
final var builder = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance().newDocumentBuilder();
final var document = builder.parse(new ByteArrayInputStream(xml.getBytes()));
final var root = document.getDocumentElement();
System.out.println(root); // [root: null]
if (root.getFirstChild() instanceof CharacterData characterData) {
System.out.println(characterData); // [#text: 012345]
characterData.replaceData(4, 2, "XYZ");
// <root>0123XYZ</root>
printDocument(root);
}
void setData (String data)
The character data of the node that implements this interface.
final var xml = """
<root>abcd</root>
""";
final var builder = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance().newDocumentBuilder();
final var document = builder.parse(new ByteArrayInputStream(xml.getBytes()));
final var root = document.getDocumentElement();
System.out.println(root); // [root: null]
if (root.getFirstChild() instanceof CharacterData characterData) {
System.out.println(characterData); // [#text: abcd]
characterData.setData("XYZ");
// <root>XYZ</root>
printDocument(document);
}
String substringData (int offset, int count)
Extracts a range of data from the node.
final var xml = """
<root>abcd</root>
""";
final var builder = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance().newDocumentBuilder();
final var document = builder.parse(new ByteArrayInputStream(xml.getBytes()));
final var root = document.getDocumentElement();
System.out.println(root); // [root: null]
if (root.getFirstChild() instanceof CharacterData characterData) {
System.out.println(characterData); // [#text: abcd]
System.out.println(characterData.getData()); // abcd
System.out.println(characterData.substringData(0, 1)); // a
System.out.println(characterData.substringData(0, 2)); // ab
System.out.println(characterData.substringData(0, 3)); // abc
System.out.println(characterData.substringData(0, 4)); // abcd
System.out.println(characterData.substringData(1, 3)); // bcd
System.out.println(characterData.substringData(2, 2)); // cd
System.out.println(characterData.substringData(3, 1)); // d
}
Methods declared in Node
appendChild, cloneNode, compareDocumentPosition, getAttributes, getBaseURI, getChildNodes, getFeature, getFirstChild, getLastChild, getLocalName, getNamespaceURI, getNextSibling, getNodeName, getNodeType, getNodeValue, getOwnerDocument, getParentNode, getPrefix, getPreviousSibling, getTextContent, getUserData, hasAttributes, hasChildNodes, insertBefore, isDefaultNamespace, isEqualNode, isSameNode, isSupported, lookupNamespaceURI, lookupPrefix, normalize, removeChild, replaceChild, setNodeValue, setPrefix, setTextContent, setUserData
Please see the link below.