def extract_text(self, node):
        """Return the string representation of the node or list of nodes by parsing the
        subnodes, but returning the result as a string instead of adding it to `self.pieces`.
        Note that this allows extracting text even if the node is in the ignore list.
        """
        if not isinstance(node, (list, tuple)):
            node = [node]
        pieces, self.pieces = self.pieces, ['']
        for n in node:
            for sn in n.childNodes:
                self.parse(sn)
        ret = ''.join(self.pieces)
        self.pieces = pieces
        return ret
Return the string representation of the node or list of nodes by parsing the
        subnodes, but returning the result as a string instead of adding it to `self.pieces`.
        Note that this allows extracting text even if the node is in the ignore list.