XPath Expression Syntax
Expression Description
/ Starts an absolute path that selects from the root node.
/Order/Items/Item selects all Item elements that are children of an Items element,
which is itself a child of the root Order element.
// Starts a relative path that selects nodes anywhere.
//Item/Name selects all the Name elements that are children of an Item element,
regardless of where they appear in the document.
@ Selects an attribute of a node.
/Order/@id selects the attribute named id from the root Order element.
* Selects any element in the path.
/Order/* selects both Items and Client nodes because both are contained by a root
Order element.
| Combines multiple paths.
/Order/Items/Item/Name|Order/Client/Name selects the Name nodes used to describe
a Client and the Name nodes used to describe an Item.
. Indicates the current (default) node.
If the current node is an Order, the expression ./Items refers to the related
items for that order.
.. Indicates the parent node.
//Name/.. selects any element that is parent to a Name, which includes the Client
and Item elements.
[ ] Define selection criteria that can test a contained node or attribute value.
/Order[@id="1999-01-30.195496"] selects the Order elements with the indicated
attribute value.
/Order/Items/Item[Price > 50] selects products above $50 in price.
/Order/Items/Item[Price > 50 and Name="Laser Printer"] selects products that match
two criteria.
starts-with This function retrieves elements based on what text a contained element starts with.
/Order/Items/Item[starts-with(Name, "C")] finds all Item elements that have a
Name element that starts with the letter C.
position This function retrieves elements based on position.
/Order/Items/Item[position ()=2] selects the second Item element.
count This function counts elements. You specify the name of the child element to count or
an asterisk (*) for all children.
/Order/Items/Item[count(Price) = 1] retrieves Item elements that have exactly one
nested Price element.
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