XPath Examples

|  | Search W3Schools : |

HOME | HTML | CSS | XML | JAVASCRIPT | ASP | PHP | SQL | MORE... |  | References | Examples | Forum | About

ADVERTISEMENTS XML Certification Download XML editor Custom Programming |  |

Table of contents

XPath Tutorial
XPath HOME
XPath Intro
XPath Nodes
XPath Syntax
XPath Axes
XPath Operators
XPath Examples
XPath Summary
References
XPath Functions

Selected Reading

Web Statistics
Web Glossary
Web Hosting
Web Quality
W3Schools Tutorials
W3Schools Forum
Helping W3Schools

# XPath Examples

Let's try to learn some basic XPath syntax by looking at some examples.

## The XML Example Document

We will use the following XML document in the examples below.

"books.xml":

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>

    <bookstore>

    <book category="COOKING">
      <title lang="en">Everyday Italian</title>
      <author>Giada De Laurentiis</author>
      <year>2005</year>
      <price>30.00</price>
    </book>

    <book category="CHILDREN">
      <title lang="en">Harry Potter</title>
      <author>J K. Rowling</author>
      <year>2005</year>
      <price>29.99</price>
    </book>

    <book category="WEB">
      <title lang="en">XQuery Kick Start</title>
      <author>James McGovern</author>
      <author>Per Bothner</author>
      <author>Kurt Cagle</author>
      <author>James Linn</author>
      <author>Vaidyanathan Nagarajan</author>
      <year>2003</year>
      <price>49.99</price>
    </book>

    <book category="WEB">
      <title lang="en">Learning XML</title>
      <author>Erik T. Ray</author>
      <year>2003</year>
      <price>39.95</price>
    </book>

    </bookstore>

View the "books.xml" file in your browser.

## Selecting Nodes

Unfortunately, there are different ways of dealing with XML and XPath in Internet Explorer based browsers and other browsers (like Mozilla based browsers).

In our examples we have included code that should work with most major browsers.

## Select nodes for Internet Explorer based browsers

Using the Microsoft XMLDOM object to load the XML document and the selectNodes() method to select nodes from the XML document:

    xmlDoc=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
    xmlDoc.async=false;
    xmlDoc.load("books.xml");

    xmlDoc.selectNodes(xpath);

## Select nodes for other browsers

Using the implementation() method of the document object to load the XML document and the evaluate() method to select nodes from the XML document:

    xmlDoc=document.implementation.createDocument("","",null);
    xmlDoc.async=false;
    xmlDoc.load("books.xml");

    xmlDoc.evaluate(xpath, xmlDoc, null, XPathResult.ANY_TYPE,null);

## Select titles from all book Nodes

The following path syntax selects all the title nodes:

    /bookstore/book/title

Try it yourself.

## Select the title of the first book Node

The following path syntax selects only the title of the first book node under the bookstore element:

    /bookstore/book[1]/title

Try it yourself

There is a problem with this. The example above shows different results in IE and other browsers.

IE5 and later has implemented that [0] should be the first node, but according to the W3C standard it should have been [1]!!

### A Workaround!

To solve the [0] and [1] problem in IE5+, you can set the SelectionLanguage to XPath.

The following path syntax selects only the title of the first book node under the bookstore element:

    xml.setProperty("SelectionLanguage","XPath");
    xml.selectNodes("/bookstore/book[1]/title");

Try it yourself

## Select the prices

The following path syntax selects the text from all the price nodes:

    /bookstore/book/price/text()

Try it yourself.

## Selecting price Nodes with Price>35

The following path syntax selects all the price nodes with a price higher than 35:

    /bookstore/book[price>35]/price

Try it yourself.

## Selecting title Nodes with Price>35

The following path syntax selects all the title nodes with a price higher than 35:

    /bookstore/book[price>35]/title

Try it yourself.

## Altova® MissionKit® - Integrated suite of XML tools

The Altova MissionKit is a suite of intelligent XML tools, including:

XMLSpy® – industry-leading XML editor

- Support for all XML-based technologies
- Graphical editing views, powerful debuggers, code generation, & more

MapForce® – graphical data mapping tool

- Drag-and-drop data conversion with code generation
- Support for XML, DBs, EDI, Excel® 2007, text, Web services

StyleVision® – visual stylesheet designer

- Drag-and-drop stylesheet design for XML & databases
- Output to HTML, PDF, RTF, Word 2007, & more

And more…

Try before you buy with a free fully functional 30-day trial

Download today

## Get Your Diploma!

W3Schools' Online Certification Program is the perfect solution for busy professionals who need to balance work, family, and career building.

The HTML Certificate is for developers who want to document their knowledge of HTML, XHTML, and CSS.

The JavaScript Certificate is for developers who want to document their knowledge of JavaScript and the HTML DOM.

The XML Certificate is for developers who want to document their knowledge of XML, XML DOM and XSLT.

The ASP Certificate is for developers who want to document their knowledge of ASP, SQL, and ADO.

The PHP Certificate is for developers who want to document their knowledge of PHP and SQL (MySQL).

WEB HOSTING
ASP.NET Web Hosting
$15 Domain Name Registration Save $20 / year!
Buy UK Domain Names Register Domain Names
Cheap Domain Names Cheap Web Hosting
Best Web Hosting
PHP MySQL Hosting
Top 10 Web Hosting
UK Reseller Hosting
Web Hosting
FREE Web Hosting

WEB BUILDING
Website Templates Flash Templates Website Builder Internet Business Opportunity
Custom Programming
FREE Trial or Demo Web Content Manager Forms,Web Alerts,RSS
Download XML editor
FREE Flash Website
FREE Web Templates

EDUCATION
US Web Design Schools
HTML Certification
JavaScript Certification
XML Certification
PHP Certification
ASP Certification

HOME or Top of Page |  | Printer Friendly
W3Schools is for training only. We do not warrant the correctness of its content. The risk from using it lies entirely with the user. While using this site, you agree to have read and accepted our terms of use and privacy policy. Copyright 1999-2009 by Refsnes Data. All Rights Reserved.