XPath to extract text after br tags in R

Question

How to extract text after the `br` tags in the following lines: ```

The Snow Leopard Survival Strategy (McCarthy et al. 2003, Table II) compiled national snow leopard population estimates, updating the work of Fox (1994). Many of the estimates are acknowledged to be rough and out of date, but the total estimated population is 4,080-6,590, as follows:

Afghanistan: 100-200?
Bhutan: 100-200?
China: 2,000-2,500
India: 200-600
Kazakhstan: 180-200
Kyrgyzstan: 150-500
Mongolia: 500-1,000
Nepal: 300-500
Pakistan: 200-420
Russia: 150-200
Tajikistan: 180-220
Uzbekistan: 20-50

``` I got as far as: ``` xpathSApply(h, '//div[@id="population"]', xmlValue) ``` but I'm stuck now...

Accepted Answer

It helps if you realize text is a node too. All text in the div than follows `
`'s can be retrieved by: ``` //div[@id="population"]/text()[preceding-sibling::br] ``` Technically, between `
` tags would mean: ``` //div[@id="population"]/text()[preceding-sibling::br and following-sibling::br] ``` ... but I guess that's not what you want at this point.

XPath to extract text after br tags in R

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