XML in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

Name

parentNode: Node

Synopsis

Provides a reference to the parent of this node. All node types—except Document, DocumentFragment, and Attr—may have a parent node. Every node within a Document hierarchy has a parent. Nodes that are not part of the document tree, such as new nodes and nodes removed from the document using the replaceChild() or removeChild( ) methods, have a parentNode attribute of null.

Java binding

Node getParentNode( );

Java example

// Unlink an element from the document tree
elem.getParentNode( ).removeChild(elem);