How to delete nodes and subnodes using XDocument

Introduction

In this article we will look as how to delete nodes and subnodes using XDocument.

Straight to Experiment

Say we have an xml as under

<databaseserver>
   <server name="server1" serverid="1">
    <databases>
            <database dbid="1" dbname="db1" />
        <database dbid="2" dbname="db2" />
    </databases>
   </server>
   <server name="server2" serverid="2">
    <databases>
            <database dbid="1" dbname="db1" />
        <database dbid="2" dbname="db2" />
    </databases>
   </server>
   <server name="server3" serverid="3">
    <databases>
            <database dbid="1" dbname="db1" />
        <database dbid="2" dbname="db2" />
    </databases>
   </server>
</databaseserver>

We want to delete the nodes and it's subnodes whose serverid="2".Final output will be

<databaseserver>
   <server name="server1" serverid="1">
    <databases>
            <database dbid="1" dbname="db1" />
        <database dbid="2" dbname="db2" />
    </databases>
   </server>   
   <server name="server3" serverid="3">
    <databases>
            <database dbid="1" dbname="db1" />
        <database dbid="2" dbname="db2" />
    </databases>
   </server>
</databaseserver>

Let us write the below program to do so

using System.Linq;
using System.Xml.Linq;

namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            var input = @"<databaseserver>
                               <server name='server1' serverid='1'>
                                <databases>
                                        <database dbid='1' dbname='db1' />
                                    <database dbid='2' dbname='db2' />
                                </databases>
                               </server>
                               <server name='server2' serverid='2'>
                                <databases>
                                        <database dbid='1' dbname='db1' />
                                    <database dbid='2' dbname='db2' />
                                </databases>
                               </server>
                               <server name='server3' serverid='3'>
                                <databases>
                                        <database dbid='1' dbname='db1' />
                                    <database dbid='2' dbname='db2' />
                                </databases>
                               </server>
                        </databaseserver>";

            var xDoc = XDocument.Parse(input);

            xDoc.Descendants("server")
                .First(s => s.Attribute("serverid").Value == "2")
                .Remove();

            var newXml = xDoc.ToString();
        }
    }
}

Here, first we are creating a new System.Xml.Linq.XDocument from a string by using the "Parse" method.Then we are using the "Descendants" function that returns a filtered collection of the descendant elements for this document or element, in document order. Only elements that have a matching System.Xml.Linq.XName are included in the collection.We are using the "First" function that returns the first element in a sequence that satisfies a specified condition.Finally, the "Remove" method removes the node from its parent.And then we are displaying the new xml

Conclusion

In this article we looked as how to delete nodes and subnodes using XDocument.Hope this will be helpful.Thanks for reading.