Cheatography
https://cheatography.com
Quick Reference for XPath with examples for location steps and paths.
This is a draft cheat sheet. It is a work in progress and is not finished yet.
XPath
nodename |
Selects all nodes with the name "nodename" |
/ |
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 |
Wildcards and Multiple Paths
* |
Matches any element node |
@* |
Matches any attribute node |
node() |
Matches any node of any kind |
| |
Place between paths to select several paths |
/bookstore/* |
Selects all the child element nodes of the bookstore element |
//* |
Selects all elements in the document |
//title[@*] |
Selects all title elements which have at least one attribute of any kind |
//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 |
Location Step Examples
The syntax for a location step is: axisname::nodetest[predicate]
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child::book |
Selects all book nodes that are children of the current node |
attribute::lang |
Selects the lang attribute of the current node |
child::* |
Selects all element children of the current node |
attribute::* |
Selects all attributes of the current node |
child::text() |
Selects all text node children of the current node |
child::node() |
Selects all children of the current node |
descendant::book |
Selects all book descendants of the current node |
ancestor::book |
Selects all book ancestors of the current node |
ancestor-or-self::book |
Selects all book ancestors of the current node - and the current node as well if it is a book node |
child::*/child::price |
Selects all price grandchildren of the current node |
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XPath Operators
| |
Computes two node-sets |
//book | //cd |
+ |
Addition |
6 + 4 |
- |
Subtraction |
6 - 4 |
* |
Multiplication |
6 * 4 |
div |
Division |
8 div 4 |
= |
Equal |
price=9.80 |
!= |
Not equal |
price!=9.80 |
< |
Less than |
price<9.80 |
<= |
Less than or equal to |
price<=9.80 |
> |
Greater than |
price>9.80 |
>= |
Greater than or equal to |
price>=9.80 |
or |
or |
price=9.80 or price=9.70 |
and |
and |
price>9.00 and price<9.90 |
mod |
Modulus |
5 mod 2 |
Predicates
/bookstore/book[1] |
Selects the first book element that is the child of the bookstore element. |
/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='en'] |
Selects all the title elements that have a "lang" attribute with a value of "en" |
/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 |
Note: In IE 5,6,7,8,9 first node is[0], but according to W3C, it is [1]. To solve this problem in IE, set the SelectionLanguage to XPath.
In JavaScript: xml.setProperty("SelectionLanguage","XPath");
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XPath Examples
bookstore |
Selects all nodes with the name "bookstore" |
/bookstore |
Selects the root element bookstore |
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 |
/bookstore/book/title |
Selects all title nodes that are descendants of book that are descendants of bookstore |
/bookstore/book[1]/title |
Selects the title of the first book node under the bookstore element |
/bookstore/book/price[text()] |
Selects the text from all bookstore/book/price nodes |
/bookstore/book[price>35]/price |
Selects all the bookstore/book/price nodes with a price greater than 35 |
Note: If the path started with a slash ( / ) it always represents an absolute path to an element!
XPath Axes
ancestor |
Selects all ancestors of the current node |
ancestor-or-self |
Selects all ancestors of the current node and the current node itself |
attribute |
Selects all attributes of the current node |
child |
Selects all children of the current node |
descendant |
Selects all descendants of the current node |
descendant-or-self |
Selects all descendants of the current node and the current nod itself |
following |
Selects everything in the document after the closing tag of the current node |
following-sibling |
Selects all siblings after the current node |
namespace |
Selects all namespace nodes of the current node |
parent |
Selects the parent of the current node |
preceding |
Selects all nodes that appear before the current node in the document, except ancestors, attribute nodes, and namespace nodes |
preceding-sibling |
Selects all siblings before the current node |
self |
Selects the current node |
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