>> require "hpricot" => true >> doc = Hpricot('<p>foo1</p><p>foo2</p><p>foo3</p><p>foo4</p>') => #<Hpricot::Doc {elem <p> "foo1" </p>} {elem <p> "foo2" </p>} {elem <p> "foo3" </p>} {elem <p> "foo4" </p>}> >> doc.at('p').preceding => #<Hpricot::Elements[]> >> doc.search('p')[1].preceding => #</hpricot::elements[]>