The following example shows you how to remove attributes from an XML element. We will remove attribute named userid from the <row> element. To remove an attribute you can call the removeAttribute(String name) method of the Element object.

package org.kodejava.example.jdom;

import org.jdom2.Document;
import org.jdom2.Element;
import org.jdom2.input.SAXBuilder;
import org.jdom2.output.Format;
import org.jdom2.output.XMLOutputter;

import java.io.File;

public class JDOMRemoveAttribute {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SAXBuilder builder = new SAXBuilder();
        try {
            // <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
            // <root>
            //     <row userid="alice">
            //         <firstname>Alice</firstname>
            //         <lastname>Starbuzz</lastname>
            //     </row>
            // </root>
            Document doc = builder.build(new File("data.xml"));
            XMLOutputter out = new XMLOutputter(Format.getPrettyFormat());
            out.output(doc, System.out);

            // Get the root element and find a child named row and remove
            // its attribute named "userid"
            Element root = doc.getRootElement();
            root.getChild("row").removeAttribute("userid");
            out.output(doc, System.out);
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

The program will output the following result to the console:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<data>
  <row>
    <username>alice</username>
    <password>secret</password>
  </row>
</data>
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<data>
  <row>
    <username>alice</username>
    <password>secret</password>
  </row>
</data>

Maven Dependencies

<!-- https://search.maven.org/remotecontent?filepath=org/jdom/jdom2/2.0.6/jdom2-2.0.6.jar -->
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.jdom</groupId>
    <artifactId>jdom2</artifactId>
    <version>2.0.6</version>
</dependency>

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Wayan Saryada

Founder at Kode Java Org

I am a programmer, a runner, a recreational diver, currently live in the island of Bali, Indonesia. Mostly programming in Java, Spring Framework, Hibernate / JPA. If these posts help, you can support me, buy me a cup of coffee or tea. Thank you 🥳

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