Java tutorial
//package com.java2s; import java.util.LinkedList; import org.w3c.dom.Element; import org.w3c.dom.Node; import org.w3c.dom.NodeList; public class Main { public static Element getChildByName(Element e, String name) { Element[] list = getChildrenByName(e, name); if (list.length == 0) { return null; } if (list.length > 1) { throw new IllegalStateException("Too many (" + list.length + ") '" + name + "' elements found!"); } return list[0]; } public static Element[] getChildrenByName(Element e, String name) { NodeList nl = e.getChildNodes(); int max = nl.getLength(); LinkedList<Node> list = new LinkedList<Node>(); for (int i = 0; i < max; i++) { Node n = nl.item(i); if (n.getNodeType() == Node.ELEMENT_NODE && n.getNodeName().equals(name)) { list.add(n); } } return list.toArray(new Element[list.size()]); } }