Java tutorial
//package com.java2s; import org.w3c.dom.Document; import org.w3c.dom.Element; import org.w3c.dom.Node; import org.w3c.dom.NodeList; public class Main { public static Element cloneElementAs(Element srcEl, Document dstDoc, String elName) { if (srcEl.getNodeName().equals(elName)) { if (srcEl.getOwnerDocument() == dstDoc) { return (Element) srcEl.cloneNode(true); } else { return (Element) dstDoc.importNode(srcEl, true); } } else { final Element dstEl = dstDoc.createElement(elName); final NodeList srcChildren = srcEl.getChildNodes(); final int n = srcChildren.getLength(); for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i) { final Node srcChild = srcChildren.item(i); final Node dstChild = dstDoc.importNode(srcChild, true); dstEl.appendChild(dstChild); } return dstEl; } } }