Java tutorial
//package com.java2s; import org.w3c.dom.Element; import org.w3c.dom.Node; import org.w3c.dom.NodeList; public class Main { /** * @param child * @return the single child element or null * @throws Exception if the child is present multiple times */ public static Element getFirstChild(Element element, String child) throws Exception { NodeList nodes = element.getChildNodes(); Element ret = null; for (int i = 0; i < nodes.getLength(); i++) { Node childNode = nodes.item(i); if (childNode.getNodeName().equalsIgnoreCase(child) && childNode.getNodeType() == Node.ELEMENT_NODE) { ret = (Element) childNode; return ret; } } return null; } }