![//* Selects all elements in the document
//title[@*] Selects all title elements which have any attribute](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/xpath-151106143039-lva1-app6892/85/Xpath-3-320.jpg)
Xpath
- 1. XPath is used to navigate through elements and attributes in an XML document. XPath is a major element in XSLT standard - and XQuery and XPointer are both built on XPath expressions XPath is a language for finding information in an XML document. • XPath is a syntax for defining parts of an XML document • XPath uses path expressions to navigate in XML documents 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
- 2. / 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 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 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 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
- 3. //* Selects all elements in the document //title[@*] Selects all title elements which have any attribute