XPath Syntax

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Table of contents

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

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# XPath Syntax

XPath uses path expressions to select nodes or node-sets in an XML document. The node is selected by following a path or steps.

## The XML Example Document

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

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

    <bookstore>

    <book>
      <title lang="eng">Harry Potter</title>
      <price>29.99</price>
    </book>

    <book>
      <title lang="eng">Learning XML</title>
      <price>39.95</price>
    </book>

    </bookstore>

## Selecting Nodes

XPath uses path expressions to select nodes in an XML document. The node is selected by following a path or steps. The most useful path expressions are listed below:

Expression | Description
nodename | Selects all child nodes of the named node
/ | Selects from the root node
// | Selects nodes in the document from the current node that match the selection no matter where they are
. | Selects the current node
.. | Selects the parent of the current node
@ | Selects attributes

### Examples

In the table below we have listed some path expressions and the result of the expressions:

Path Expression | Result
bookstore | Selects all the child nodes of the bookstore element
/bookstore | Selects the root element bookstore Note: If the path starts with a slash ( / ) it always represents an absolute path to an element!
bookstore/book | Selects all book elements that are children of bookstore
//book | Selects all book elements no matter where they are in the document
bookstore//book | Selects all book elements that are descendant of the bookstore element, no matter where they are under the bookstore element
//@lang | Selects all attributes that are named lang

## Predicates

Predicates are used to find a specific node or a node that contains a specific value.

Predicates are always embedded in square brackets.

### Examples

In the table below we have listed some path expressions with predicates and the result of the expressions:

Path Expression | Result
/bookstore/book[1] | Selects the first book element that is the child of the bookstore element. Note: IE5 and later has implemented that [0] should be the first node, but according to the W3C standard it should have been [1]!!
/bookstore/book[last()] | Selects the last book element that is the child of the bookstore element
/bookstore/book[last()-1] | Selects the last but one book element that is the child of the bookstore element
/bookstore/book[position()<3] | Selects the first two book elements that are children of the bookstore element
//title[@lang] | Selects all the title elements that have an attribute named lang
//title[@lang='eng'] | Selects all the title elements that have an attribute named lang with a value of 'eng'
/bookstore/book[price>35.00] | Selects all the book elements of the bookstore element that have a price element with a value greater than 35.00
/bookstore/book[price>35.00]/title | Selects all the title elements of the book elements of the bookstore element that have a price element with a value greater than 35.00

## Selecting Unknown Nodes

XPath wildcards can be used to select unknown XML elements.

Wildcard | Description
* | Matches any element node
@* | Matches any attribute node
node() | Matches any node of any kind

### Examples

In the table below we have listed some path expressions and the result of the expressions:

Path Expression | Result
/bookstore/* | Selects all the child nodes of the bookstore element
//* | Selects all elements in the document
//title[@*] | Selects all title elements which have any attribute

## Selecting Several Paths

By using the | operator in an XPath expression you can select several paths.

### Examples

In the table below we have listed some path expressions and the result of the expressions:

Path Expression | Result
//book/title | //book/price | Selects all the title AND price elements of all book elements
//title | //price | Selects all the title AND price elements in the document
/bookstore/book/title | //price | Selects all the title elements of the book element of the bookstore element AND all the price elements in the document

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