Parse table using Nokogiri

Question

I would like to parse a table using Nokogiri. I\'m doing it this way

def parse_table_nokogiri(html)

    doc = Nokogiri::HTML(html)

    doc.search(\'table &         


        

Answer 1

Simple (but not DRY) way of using alternation:

require 'nokogiri'

doc = Nokogiri::HTML <
NOT THIS

  
foo
  
bar

ENDHTML

p doc.xpath( '//table/tr/td/text()|//table/tr/td/font/text()' )
#=> [#,
#=>  #]

See XPath with optional element in hierarchy for a more DRY answer.

In this case, however, you can simply do:

p doc.xpath( '//table/tr/td//text()' )
#=> [#,
#=>  #]

Note that your table structure (and mine above) which does not have an explicit tbody element is invalid for XHTML. Given your explicit table > tr above, however, I assume that you have a reason for this.