Class HTML::Selector
In: actionpack/lib/action_controller/vendor/html-scanner/html/selector.rb
Parent: Object

Selects HTML elements using CSS 2 selectors.

The Selector class uses CSS selector expressions to match and select HTML elements.

For example: 

  selector = HTML::Selector.new "form.login[action=/login]"

creates a new selector that matches any form element with the class login and an attribute action with the value /login.

Matching Elements

Use the match method to determine if an element matches the selector.

For simple selectors, the method returns an array with that element, or nil if the element does not match. For complex selectors (see below) the method returns an array with all matched elements, of nil if no match found.

For example: 

  if selector.match(element)
    puts "Element is a login form"
  end

Selecting Elements

Use the select method to select all matching elements starting with one element and going through all children in depth-first order.

This method returns an array of all matching elements, an empty array if no match is found

For example: 

  selector = HTML::Selector.new "input[type=text]"
  matches = selector.select(element)
  matches.each do |match|
    puts "Found text field with name #{match.attributes['name']}"
  end

Expressions

Selectors can match elements using any of the following criteria:

  • name — Match an element based on its name (tag name). For example, p to match a paragraph. You can use * to match any element.
  • #id — Match an element based on its identifier (the id attribute). For example, #page.
  • .class — Match an element based on its class name, all class names if more than one specified.
  • [attr] — Match an element that has the specified attribute.
  • [attr=value] — Match an element that has the specified attribute and value. (More operators are supported see below)
  • :pseudo-class — Match an element based on a pseudo class, such as :nth-child and :empty.
  • :not(expr) — Match an element that does not match the negation expression.

When using a combination of the above, the element name comes first followed by identifier, class names, attributes, pseudo classes and negation in any order. Do not seprate these parts with spaces! Space separation is used for descendant selectors.

For example: 

  selector = HTML::Selector.new "form.login[action=/login]"

The matched element must be of type form and have the class login. It may have other classes, but the class login is required to match. It must also have an attribute called action with the value /login.

This selector will match the following element: 

  <form class="login form" method="post" action="/login">

but will not match the element: 

  <form method="post" action="/logout">

Attribute Values

Several operators are supported for matching attributes:

  • name — The element must have an attribute with that name.
  • name=value — The element must have an attribute with that name and value.
  • name^=value — The attribute value must start with the specified value.
  • name$=value — The attribute value must end with the specified value.
  • name*=value — The attribute value must contain the specified value.
  • name~=word — The attribute value must contain the specified word (space separated).
  • name|=word — The attribute value must start with specified word.

For example, the following two selectors match the same element: 

  #my_id
  [id=my_id]

and so do the following two selectors: 

  .my_class
  [class~=my_class]

Alternatives, siblings, children

Complex selectors use a combination of expressions to match elements:

  • expr1 expr2 — Match any element against the second expression if it has some parent element that matches the first expression.
  • expr1 > expr2 — Match any element against the second expression if it is the child of an element that matches the first expression.
  • expr1 + expr2 — Match any element against the second expression if it immediately follows an element that matches the first expression.
  • expr1 ~ expr2 — Match any element against the second expression that comes after an element that matches the first expression.
  • expr1, expr2 — Match any element against the first expression, or against the second expression.

Since children and sibling selectors may match more than one element given the first element, the match method may return more than one match.

Pseudo classes

Pseudo classes were introduced in CSS 3. They are most often used to select elements in a given position:

  • :root — Match the element only if it is the root element (no parent element).
  • :empty — Match the element only if it has no child elements, and no text content.
  • :only-child — Match the element if it is the only child (element) of its parent element.
  • :only-of-type — Match the element if it is the only child (element) of its parent element and its type.
  • :first-child — Match the element if it is the first child (element) of its parent element.
  • :first-of-type — Match the element if it is the first child (element) of its parent element of its type.
  • :last-child — Match the element if it is the last child (element) of its parent element.
  • :last-of-type — Match the element if it is the last child (element) of its parent element of its type.
  • :nth-child(b) — Match the element if it is the b-th child (element) of its parent element. The value b specifies its index, starting with 1.
  • :nth-child(an+b) — Match the element if it is the b-th child (element) in each group of a child elements of its parent element.
  • :nth-child(-an+b) — Match the element if it is the first child (element) in each group of a child elements, up to the first b child elements of its parent element.
  • :nth-child(odd) — Match element in the odd position (i.e. first, third). Same as :nth-child(2n+1).
  • :nth-child(even) — Match element in the even position (i.e. second, fourth). Same as :nth-child(2n+2).
  • :nth-of-type(..) — As above, but only counts elements of its type.
  • :nth-last-child(..) — As above, but counts from the last child.
  • :nth-last-of-type(..) — As above, but counts from the last child and only elements of its type.
  • :not(selector) — Match the element only if the element does not match the simple selector.

As you can see, <tt>:nth-child<tt> pseudo class and its varient can get quite tricky and the CSS specification doesn’t do a much better job explaining it. But after reading the examples and trying a few combinations, it’s easy to figure out.

For example: 

  table tr:nth-child(odd)

Selects every second row in the table starting with the first one. 

  div p:nth-child(4)

Selects the fourth paragraph in the div, but not if the div contains other elements, since those are also counted. 

  div p:nth-of-type(4)

Selects the fourth paragraph in the div, counting only paragraphs, and ignoring all other elements. 

  div p:nth-of-type(-n+4)

Selects the first four paragraphs, ignoring all others.

And you can always select an element that matches one set of rules but not another using :not. For example: 

  p:not(.post)

Matches all paragraphs that do not have the class .post.

Substitution Values

You can use substitution with identifiers, class names and element values. A substitution takes the form of a question mark (?) and uses the next value in the argument list following the CSS expression.

The substitution value may be a string or a regular expression. All other values are converted to strings.

For example: 

  selector = HTML::Selector.new "#?", /^\d+$/

matches any element whose identifier consists of one or more digits.

See www.w3.org/TR/css3-selectors/

Methods

attribute_match   for_class   for_id   match   new   next_element   next_selector   nth_child   only_child   select   select_first   simple_selector  

Public Class methods

Selector.for_class(cls) => selector

Creates a new selector for the given class name.

[Source]

# File actionpack/lib/action_controller/vendor/html-scanner/html/selector.rb, line 214
      def for_class(cls)
        self.new([".?", cls])
      end
Selector.for_id(id) => selector

Creates a new selector for the given id.

[Source]

# File actionpack/lib/action_controller/vendor/html-scanner/html/selector.rb, line 223
      def for_id(id)
        self.new(["#?", id])
      end
Selector.new(string, [values ...]) => selector

Creates a new selector from a CSS 2 selector expression.

The first argument is the selector expression. All other arguments are used for value substitution.

Throws InvalidSelectorError is the selector expression is invalid.

[Source]

# File actionpack/lib/action_controller/vendor/html-scanner/html/selector.rb, line 239
    def initialize(selector, *values)
      raise ArgumentError, "CSS expression cannot be empty" if selector.empty?
      @source = ""
      values = values[0] if values.size == 1 && values[0].is_a?(Array)

      # We need a copy to determine if we failed to parse, and also
      # preserve the original pass by-ref statement.
      statement = selector.strip.dup

      # Create a simple selector, along with negation.
      simple_selector(statement, values).each { |name, value| instance_variable_set("@#{name}", value) }

      @alternates = []
      @depends = nil

      # Alternative selector.
      if statement.sub!(/^\s*,\s*/, "")
        second = Selector.new(statement, values)
        @alternates << second
        # If there are alternate selectors, we group them in the top selector.
        if alternates = second.instance_variable_get(:@alternates)
          second.instance_variable_set(:@alternates, [])
          @alternates.concat alternates
        end
        @source << " , " << second.to_s
      # Sibling selector: create a dependency into second selector that will
      # match element immediately following this one.
      elsif statement.sub!(/^\s*\+\s*/, "")
        second = next_selector(statement, values)
        @depends = lambda do |element, first|
          if element = next_element(element)
            second.match(element, first)
          end
        end
        @source << " + " << second.to_s
      # Adjacent selector: create a dependency into second selector that will
      # match all elements following this one.
      elsif statement.sub!(/^\s*~\s*/, "")
        second = next_selector(statement, values)
        @depends = lambda do |element, first|
          matches = []
          while element = next_element(element)
            if subset = second.match(element, first)
              if first && !subset.empty?
                matches << subset.first
                break
              else
                matches.concat subset
              end
            end
          end
          matches.empty? ? nil : matches
        end
        @source << " ~ " << second.to_s
      # Child selector: create a dependency into second selector that will
      # match a child element of this one.
      elsif statement.sub!(/^\s*>\s*/, "")
        second = next_selector(statement, values)
        @depends = lambda do |element, first|
          matches = []
          element.children.each do |child|
            if child.tag? && subset = second.match(child, first)
              if first && !subset.empty?
                matches << subset.first
                break
              else
                matches.concat subset
              end
            end
          end
          matches.empty? ? nil : matches
        end
        @source << " > " << second.to_s
      # Descendant selector: create a dependency into second selector that
      # will match all descendant elements of this one. Note,
      elsif statement =~ /^\s+\S+/ && statement != selector
        second = next_selector(statement, values)
        @depends = lambda do |element, first|
          matches = []
          stack = element.children.reverse
          while node = stack.pop
            next unless node.tag?
            if subset = second.match(node, first)
              if first && !subset.empty?
                matches << subset.first
                break
              else
                matches.concat subset
              end
            elsif children = node.children
              stack.concat children.reverse
            end
          end
          matches.empty? ? nil : matches
        end
        @source << " " << second.to_s
      else
        # The last selector is where we check that we parsed
        # all the parts.
        unless statement.empty? || statement.strip.empty?
          raise ArgumentError, "Invalid selector: #{statement}"
        end
      end
    end

Public Instance methods

match(element, first?) => array or nil

Matches an element against the selector.

For a simple selector this method returns an array with the element if the element matches, nil otherwise.

For a complex selector (sibling and descendant) this method returns an array with all matching elements, nil if no match is found.

Use +first_only=true+ if you are only interested in the first element.

For example: 

  if selector.match(element)
    puts "Element is a login form"
  end

[Source]

# File actionpack/lib/action_controller/vendor/html-scanner/html/selector.rb, line 363
    def match(element, first_only = false)
      # Match element if no element name or element name same as element name
      if matched = (!@tag_name || @tag_name == element.name)
        # No match if one of the attribute matches failed
        for attr in @attributes
          if element.attributes[attr[0]] !~ attr[1]
            matched = false
            break
          end
        end
      end

      # Pseudo class matches (nth-child, empty, etc).
      if matched
        for pseudo in @pseudo
          unless pseudo.call(element)
            matched = false
            break
          end
        end
      end

      # Negation. Same rules as above, but we fail if a match is made.
      if matched && @negation
        for negation in @negation
          if negation[:tag_name] == element.name
            matched = false
          else
            for attr in negation[:attributes]
              if element.attributes[attr[0]] =~ attr[1]
                matched = false
                break
              end
            end
          end
          if matched
            for pseudo in negation[:pseudo]
              if pseudo.call(element)
                matched = false
                break
              end
            end
          end
          break unless matched
        end
      end

      # If element matched but depends on another element (child,
      # sibling, etc), apply the dependent matches instead.
      if matched && @depends
        matches = @depends.call(element, first_only)
      else
        matches = matched ? [element] : nil
      end

      # If this selector is part of the group, try all the alternative
      # selectors (unless first_only).
      if !first_only || !matches
        @alternates.each do |alternate|
          break if matches && first_only
          if subset = alternate.match(element, first_only)
            if matches
              matches.concat subset
            else
              matches = subset
            end
          end
        end
      end

      matches
    end
next_element(element, name = nil)

Return the next element after this one. Skips sibling text nodes.

With the name argument, returns the next element with that name, skipping other sibling elements.

[Source]

# File actionpack/lib/action_controller/vendor/html-scanner/html/selector.rb, line 493
    def next_element(element, name = nil)
      if siblings = element.parent.children
        found = false
        siblings.each do |node|
          if node.equal?(element)
            found = true
          elsif found && node.tag?
            return node if (name.nil? || node.name == name)
          end
        end
      end
      nil
    end
select(root) => array

Selects and returns an array with all matching elements, beginning with one node and traversing through all children depth-first. Returns an empty array if no match is found.

The root node may be any element in the document, or the document itself.

For example: 

  selector = HTML::Selector.new "input[type=text]"
  matches = selector.select(element)
  matches.each do |match|
    puts "Found text field with name #{match.attributes['name']}"
  end

[Source]

# File actionpack/lib/action_controller/vendor/html-scanner/html/selector.rb, line 453
    def select(root)
      matches = []
      stack = [root]
      while node = stack.pop
        if node.tag? && subset = match(node, false)
          subset.each do |match|
            matches << match unless matches.any? { |item| item.equal?(match) }
          end
        elsif children = node.children
          stack.concat children.reverse
        end
      end
      matches
    end
select_first(root)

Similar to select but returns the first matching element. Returns nil if no element matches the selector.

[Source]

# File actionpack/lib/action_controller/vendor/html-scanner/html/selector.rb, line 471
    def select_first(root)
      stack = [root]
      while node = stack.pop
        if node.tag? && subset = match(node, true)
          return subset.first if !subset.empty?
        elsif children = node.children
          stack.concat children.reverse
        end
      end
      nil
    end

Protected Instance methods

attribute_match(equality, value)

Create a regular expression to match an attribute value based on the equality operator (=, ^=, |=, etc).

[Source]

# File actionpack/lib/action_controller/vendor/html-scanner/html/selector.rb, line 687
    def attribute_match(equality, value)
      regexp = value.is_a?(Regexp) ? value : Regexp.escape(value.to_s)
      case equality
        when "=" then
          # Match the attribute value in full
          Regexp.new("^#{regexp}$")
        when "~=" then
          # Match a space-separated word within the attribute value
          Regexp.new("(^|\s)#{regexp}($|\s)")
        when "^="
          # Match the beginning of the attribute value
          Regexp.new("^#{regexp}")
        when "$="
          # Match the end of the attribute value
          Regexp.new("#{regexp}$")
        when "*="
          # Match substring of the attribute value
          regexp.is_a?(Regexp) ? regexp : Regexp.new(regexp)
        when "|=" then
          # Match the first space-separated item of the attribute value
          Regexp.new("^#{regexp}($|\s)")
        else
          raise InvalidSelectorError, "Invalid operation/value" unless value.empty?
          # Match all attributes values (existence check)
          //
      end
    end
next_selector(statement, values)

Called to create a dependent selector (sibling, descendant, etc). Passes the remainder of the statement that will be reduced to zero eventually, and array of substitution values.

This method is called from four places, so it helps to put it here for reuse. The only logic deals with the need to detect comma separators (alternate) and apply them to the selector group of the top selector.

[Source]

# File actionpack/lib/action_controller/vendor/html-scanner/html/selector.rb, line 800
    def next_selector(statement, values)
      second = Selector.new(statement, values)
      # If there are alternate selectors, we group them in the top selector.
      if alternates = second.instance_variable_get(:@alternates)
        second.instance_variable_set(:@alternates, [])
        @alternates.concat alternates
      end
      second
    end
nth_child(a, b, of_type, reverse)

Returns a lambda that can match an element against the nth-child pseudo class, given the following arguments:

  • a — Value of a part.
  • b — Value of b part.
  • of_type — True to test only elements of this type (of-type).
  • reverse — True to count in reverse order (last-).

[Source]

# File actionpack/lib/action_controller/vendor/html-scanner/html/selector.rb, line 722
    def nth_child(a, b, of_type, reverse)
      # a = 0 means select at index b, if b = 0 nothing selected
      return lambda { |element| false } if a == 0 && b == 0
      # a < 0 and b < 0 will never match against an index
      return lambda { |element| false } if a < 0 && b < 0
      b = a + b + 1 if b < 0   # b < 0 just picks last element from each group
      b -= 1 unless b == 0  # b == 0 is same as b == 1, otherwise zero based
      lambda do |element|
        # Element must be inside parent element.
        return false unless element.parent && element.parent.tag?
        index = 0
        # Get siblings, reverse if counting from last.
        siblings = element.parent.children
        siblings = siblings.reverse if reverse
        # Match element name if of-type, otherwise ignore name.
        name = of_type ? element.name : nil
        found = false
        for child in siblings
          # Skip text nodes/comments.
          if child.tag? && (name == nil || child.name == name)
            if a == 0
              # Shortcut when a == 0 no need to go past count
              if index == b
                found = child.equal?(element)
                break
              end
            elsif a < 0
              # Only look for first b elements
              break if index > b
              if child.equal?(element)
                found = (index % a) == 0
                break
              end
            else
              # Otherwise, break if child found and count ==  an+b
              if child.equal?(element)
                found = (index % a) == b
                break
              end
            end
            index += 1
          end
        end
        found
      end
    end
only_child(of_type)

Creates a only child lambda. Pass +of-type+ to only look at elements of its type.

[Source]

# File actionpack/lib/action_controller/vendor/html-scanner/html/selector.rb, line 772
    def only_child(of_type)
      lambda do |element|
        # Element must be inside parent element.
        return false unless element.parent && element.parent.tag?
        name = of_type ? element.name : nil
        other = false
        for child in element.parent.children
          # Skip text nodes/comments.
          if child.tag? && (name == nil || child.name == name)
            unless child.equal?(element)
              other = true
              break
            end
          end
        end
        !other
      end
    end
simple_selector(statement, values, can_negate = true)

Creates a simple selector given the statement and array of substitution values.

Returns a hash with the values tag_name, attributes, pseudo (classes) and negation.

Called the first time with can_negate true to allow negation. Called a second time with false since negation cannot be negated.

[Source]

# File actionpack/lib/action_controller/vendor/html-scanner/html/selector.rb, line 520
    def simple_selector(statement, values, can_negate = true)
      tag_name = nil
      attributes = []
      pseudo = []
      negation = []

      # Element name. (Note that in negation, this can come at
      # any order, but for simplicity we allow if only first).
      statement.sub!(/^(\*|[[:alpha:]][\w\-]*)/) do |match|
        match.strip!
        tag_name = match.downcase unless match == "*"
        @source << match
        "" # Remove
      end

      # Get identifier, class, attribute name, pseudo or negation.
      while true
        # Element identifier.
        next if statement.sub!(/^#(\?|[\w\-]+)/) do |match|
          id = $1
          if id == "?"
            id = values.shift
          end
          @source << "##{id}"
          id = Regexp.new("^#{Regexp.escape(id.to_s)}$") unless id.is_a?(Regexp)
          attributes << ["id", id]
          "" # Remove
        end

        # Class name.
        next if statement.sub!(/^\.([\w\-]+)/) do |match|
          class_name = $1
          @source << ".#{class_name}"
          class_name = Regexp.new("(^|\s)#{Regexp.escape(class_name)}($|\s)") unless class_name.is_a?(Regexp)
          attributes << ["class", class_name]
          "" # Remove
        end

        # Attribute value.
        next if statement.sub!(/^\[\s*([[:alpha:]][\w\-]*)\s*((?:[~|^$*])?=)?\s*('[^']*'|"[^*]"|[^\]]*)\s*\]/) do |match|
          name, equality, value = $1, $2, $3
          if value == "?"
            value = values.shift
          else
            # Handle single and double quotes.
            value.strip!
            if (value[0] == ?" || value[0] == ?') && value[0] == value[-1]
              value = value[1..-2]
            end
          end
          @source << "[#{name}#{equality}'#{value}']"
          attributes << [name.downcase.strip, attribute_match(equality, value)]
          "" # Remove
        end

        # Root element only.
        next if statement.sub!(/^:root/) do |match|
          pseudo << lambda do |element|
            element.parent.nil? || !element.parent.tag?
          end
          @source << ":root"
          "" # Remove
        end

        # Nth-child including last and of-type.
        next if statement.sub!(/^:nth-(last-)?(child|of-type)\((odd|even|(\d+|\?)|(-?\d*|\?)?n([+\-]\d+|\?)?)\)/) do |match|
          reverse = $1 == "last-"
          of_type = $2 == "of-type"
          @source << ":nth-#{$1}#{$2}("
          case $3
            when "odd"
              pseudo << nth_child(2, 1, of_type, reverse)
              @source << "odd)"
            when "even"
              pseudo << nth_child(2, 2, of_type, reverse)
              @source << "even)"
            when /^(\d+|\?)$/  # b only
              b = ($1 == "?" ? values.shift : $1).to_i
              pseudo << nth_child(0, b, of_type, reverse)
              @source << "#{b})"
            when /^(-?\d*|\?)?n([+\-]\d+|\?)?$/
              a = ($1 == "?" ? values.shift :
                   $1 == "" ? 1 : $1 == "-" ? -1 : $1).to_i
              b = ($2 == "?" ? values.shift : $2).to_i
              pseudo << nth_child(a, b, of_type, reverse)
              @source << (b >= 0 ? "#{a}n+#{b})" : "#{a}n#{b})")
            else
              raise ArgumentError, "Invalid nth-child #{match}"
          end
          "" # Remove
        end
        # First/last child (of type).
        next if statement.sub!(/^:(first|last)-(child|of-type)/) do |match|
          reverse = $1 == "last"
          of_type = $2 == "of-type"
          pseudo << nth_child(0, 1, of_type, reverse)
          @source << ":#{$1}-#{$2}"
          "" # Remove
        end
        # Only child (of type).
        next if statement.sub!(/^:only-(child|of-type)/) do |match|
          of_type = $1 == "of-type"
          pseudo << only_child(of_type)
          @source << ":only-#{$1}"
          "" # Remove
        end

        # Empty: no child elements or meaningful content (whitespaces
        # are ignored).
        next if statement.sub!(/^:empty/) do |match|
          pseudo << lambda do |element|
            empty = true
            for child in element.children
              if child.tag? || !child.content.strip.empty?
                empty = false
                break
              end
            end
            empty
          end
          @source << ":empty"
          "" # Remove
        end
        # Content: match the text content of the element, stripping
        # leading and trailing spaces.
        next if statement.sub!(/^:content\(\s*(\?|'[^']*'|"[^"]*"|[^)]*)\s*\)/) do |match|
          content = $1
          if content == "?"
            content = values.shift
          elsif (content[0] == ?" || content[0] == ?') && content[0] == content[-1]
            content = content[1..-2]
          end
          @source << ":content('#{content}')"
          content = Regexp.new("^#{Regexp.escape(content.to_s)}$") unless content.is_a?(Regexp)
          pseudo << lambda do |element|
            text = ""
            for child in element.children
              unless child.tag?
                text << child.content
              end
            end
            text.strip =~ content
          end
          "" # Remove
        end

        # Negation. Create another simple selector to handle it.
        if statement.sub!(/^:not\(\s*/, "")
          raise ArgumentError, "Double negatives are not missing feature" unless can_negate
          @source << ":not("
          negation << simple_selector(statement, values, false)
          raise ArgumentError, "Negation not closed" unless statement.sub!(/^\s*\)/, "")
          @source << ")"
          next
        end

        # No match: moving on.
        break
      end

      # Return hash. The keys are mapped to instance variables.
      {:tag_name=>tag_name, :attributes=>attributes, :pseudo=>pseudo, :negation=>negation}
    end

[Validate]