XContainer.Nodes Method (System.Xml.Linq)

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.NET Framework Class Library

XContainer.Nodes Method

Returns a collection of the child nodes of this element or document, in document order.

Namespace: System.Xml.Linq
Assembly: System.Xml.Linq (in System.Xml.Linq.dll)

Syntax

Visual Basic

Public Function Nodes As IEnumerable(Of XNode)

public IEnumerable<XNode> Nodes()

Visual C++

public:
IEnumerable<XNode^>^ Nodes()

member Nodes : unit -> IEnumerable<XNode>

Return Value

Type: System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<XNode>
An IEnumerable<T> of XNode containing the contents of this XContainer, in document order.

Remarks

Note that the content does not include attributes. In LINQ to XML, attributes are not considered to be nodes of the tree. They are name/value pairs associated with an element.

This method uses deferred execution.

Examples

The following example creates an XML tree with a variety of types of nodes. It then queries this axis method to enumerate and print the nodes.

XElement xmlTree = new XElement("Root",
    new XElement("Child1", 1),
    new XElement("Child2", 2),
    new XComment("a comment"),
    new XElement("Child3", 3),
    new XElement("Child4", 4),
    new XText("mixed content"),
    new XElement("Child5", 5)
);
IEnumerable<XNode> nodes =
    from nd in xmlTree.Nodes()
    select nd;
foreach (XNode node in nodes)
    Console.WriteLine(node);

Visual Basic

Dim xmlTree As XElement = _ 
        <Root>
            <Child1>1</Child1>
            <Child2>2</Child2>
            <!--a comment-->
            <Child3>3</Child3>
            <Child4>4</Child4>mixed content<Child5>5</Child5>
            </Root>

Dim nodes = From nd In xmlTree.Nodes() _
            Select nd

For Each node In nodes
    Console.WriteLine(node)
Next

This example produces the following output:

<Child1>1</Child1>
<Child2>2</Child2>
<!--a comment-->
<Child3>3</Child3>
<Child4>4</Child4>
mixed content
<Child5>5</Child5>

The following example creates an XML tree that contains a variety of types of nodes. It then enumerates through portions of the tree, printing the node types.

XDocument xmlTree = new XDocument(
    new XComment("a comment"),
    new XProcessingInstruction("xml-stylesheet", "type=\"text/xsl\" href=\"hello.xsl\""),
    new XElement("Root",
        new XAttribute("Att", "attContent"),
        new XElement("Child1",
            new XCData("CDATA content")
        ),
        new XElement("Child2",
            new XText("Text content")
        )
    )
);

foreach (XNode node in xmlTree.Nodes())
{
    Console.WriteLine(node.NodeType);
    if (node.NodeType == XmlNodeType.Element)
    {
        foreach (XAttribute att in ((XElement)node).Attributes())
            Console.WriteLine(att.NodeType);
        foreach (XNode node2 in ((XElement)node).Nodes())
        {
            Console.WriteLine(node2.NodeType);
            if (node2.NodeType == XmlNodeType.Element)
                foreach (XNode node3 in ((XElement)node2).Nodes())
                    Console.WriteLine(node3.NodeType);
        }
    }
}

Visual Basic

Dim xmlTree As XDocument = _ 
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <!--a comment-->
    <?xml-stylesheet type='text/xsl' href='hello.xsl'?>
    <Root Att="attContent">
        <Child1><![CDATA[CDATA content]]></Child1>
        <Child2>Text content</Child2>
    </Root>

' Note that XNode uses XmlNodeType, which is in the System.Xml namespace
For Each node In xmlTree.Nodes
    Console.WriteLine(node.NodeType.ToString())
    If node.NodeType = XmlNodeType.Element Then
        For Each att In DirectCast(node, XElement).Attributes
            Console.WriteLine(att.NodeType.ToString())
        Next
        For Each node2 In DirectCast (node, XElement).Nodes()
            Console.WriteLine(node2.NodeType.ToString())
            If node2.NodeType = XmlNodeType.Element Then
                For Each node3 In DirectCast (node2, XElement).Nodes
                    Console.WriteLine(node3.NodeType.ToString())
                Next
            End If
        Next
    End If
Next

This example produces the following output:

Comment
ProcessingInstruction
Element
Attribute
Element
CDATA
Element
Text

Version Information

.NET Framework

Supported in: 4, 3.5

.NET Framework Client Profile

Supported in: 4, 3.5 SP1

Platforms

Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2

The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

Reference

XContainer Class

System.Xml.Linq Namespace

Attributes

Descendants

DescendantNodes

Other Resources

LINQ to XML