XPath Node Test
XPath node test is a part of XPath expression for finding nodes in XML document.
XPath Node Test Examples
Following are some XPath node test examples.
| Select Axis | Description |
|---|---|
| //name/self::* | Select the name context node. |
| child::* | Select All child nodes of the context node. |
| child::node() | Select all child nodes of the context node. |
| child::empinfo | Select all child elements of empinfo node. |
| //employee/descendant::* | Select all descendant of the employee node. |
| //descendant::employee | Select all descendant of the employee node in context node. |
| //employee/descendant-or-self::* | Select all descendant of the employee nodes and context node itself. |
| //descendant-or-self::employee | Select all descendant of employee node with context node itself. |
Ancestor
| //employee/ancestor::* | Select all ancestor node of the employee node. |
| //ancestor::name | Select all ancestor of the name node in context node. |
| //employee/ancestor-or-self::* | Select all ancestor of the employee nodes and context node itself. |
| //name/ancestor-or-self::employee | Select all ancestor of name node with context node itself. |
| //name/parent::* | Select parent node of the name context node. |
| //name/parent::employee | Return result node if employee node is parent node of the context node, otherwise no node found. |
| //attribute::id | Select all node with id attribute. |
| //attribute::* | Select all node with any attribute. |
| //employee[@id=1]/following::* | Select all nodes (with child nodes) after the context node. |
| //employee[@id=1]/following-sibling::* | Select all sibling nodes after the context node. |
| //employee[@id=3]/preceding::* | Select all nodes (with child nodes) before the context node. |
| //employee[@id=3]/preceding-sibling::* | Select all sibling nodes before the context node. |
//name/self::*: Select the name context node.
XPath selection: name node value (4, 9, 14 lines).
//name/self::*
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<empinfo>
<employee id="1">
<name>Opal Kole</name>
<designation discipline="web" experience="3 year">Senior Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="2">
<name from="CA">Max Miller</name>
<designation discipline="DBA" experience="2 year">DBA Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="3">
<name>Beccaa Moss</name>
<designation discipline="appdev">Application Developer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
</empinfo>
child::*: Select All child nodes of the context node.
XPath selection: 3 to 7, 8 to 12, 13 to 17 lines.
/empinfo/child::*
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<empinfo>
<employee id="1">
<name>Opal Kole</name>
<designation discipline="web" experience="3 year">Senior Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="2">
<name from="CA">Max Miller</name>
<designation discipline="DBA" experience="2 year">DBA Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="3">
<name>Beccaa Moss</name>
<designation discipline="appdev">Application Developer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
</empinfo>
child::node(): Select all child nodes of the context node.
XPath selection: name node value (4, 9, 14 lines).
child::node()
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<empinfo>
<employee id="1">
<name>Opal Kole</name>
<designation discipline="web" experience="3 year">Senior Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="2">
<name from="CA">Max Miller</name>
<designation discipline="DBA" experience="2 year">DBA Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="3">
<name>Beccaa Moss</name>
<designation discipline="appdev">Application Developer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
</empinfo>
child::empinfo: Select all child elements of empinfo node.
XPath selection: 2 to 18 lines.
child::empinfo
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<empinfo>
<employee id="1">
<name>Opal Kole</name>
<designation discipline="web" experience="3 year">Senior Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="2">
<name from="CA">Max Miller</name>
<designation discipline="DBA" experience="2 year">DBA Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="3">
<name>Beccaa Moss</name>
<designation discipline="appdev">Application Developer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
</empinfo>
//employee/descendant::*: Select all descendant of the employee node.
XPath selection: 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16 lines.
//employee/descendant::*
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<empinfo>
<employee id="1">
<name>Opal Kole</name>
<designation discipline="web" experience="3 year">Senior Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="2">
<name from="CA">Max Miller</name>
<designation discipline="DBA" experience="2 year">DBA Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="3">
<name>Beccaa Moss</name>
<designation discipline="appdev">Application Developer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
</empinfo>
//descendant::employee: Select all descendant of the employee node in context node.
XPath selection: 3 to 7, 8 to 12, 13 to 17 lines.
//descendant::employee
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<empinfo>
<employee id="1">
<name>Opal Kole</name>
<designation discipline="web" experience="3 year">Senior Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="2">
<name from="CA">Max Miller</name>
<designation discipline="DBA" experience="2 year">DBA Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="3">
<name>Beccaa Moss</name>
<designation discipline="appdev">Application Developer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
</empinfo>
//employee/descendant-or-self::*: Select all descendant of the employee nodes and context node itself.
XPath selection: 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16 lines.
//employee/descendant-or-self::*
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<empinfo>
<employee id="1">
<name>Opal Kole</name>
<designation discipline="web" experience="3 year">Senior Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="2">
<name from="CA">Max Miller</name>
<designation discipline="DBA" experience="2 year">DBA Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="3">
<name>Beccaa Moss</name>
<designation discipline="appdev">Application Developer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
</empinfo>
//descendant-or-self::employee: Select all descendant of employee node with context node itself.
XPath selection: 3 to 7, 8 to 12, 13 to 17 lines.
//descendant-or-self::employee
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<empinfo>
<employee id="1">
<name>Opal Kole</name>
<designation discipline="web" experience="3 year">Senior Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="2">
<name from="CA">Max Miller</name>
<designation discipline="DBA" experience="2 year">DBA Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="3">
<name>Beccaa Moss</name>
<designation discipline="appdev">Application Developer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
</empinfo>
//employee/ancestor::*: Select all ancestor node of the employee node.
XPath selection: 2 to 18 lines.
//employee/ancestor::*
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<empinfo>
<employee id="1">
<name>Opal Kole</name>
<designation discipline="web" experience="3 year">Senior Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="2">
<name from="CA">Max Miller</name>
<designation discipline="DBA" experience="2 year">DBA Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="3">
<name>Beccaa Moss</name>
<designation discipline="appdev">Application Developer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
</empinfo>
//ancestor::name: Select all ancestor of the name node in context node.
XPath selection: name node value (4, 9, 14 lines).
//ancestor::name
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<empinfo>
<employee id="1">
<name>Opal Kole</name>
<designation discipline="web" experience="3 year">Senior Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="2">
<name from="CA">Max Miller</name>
<designation discipline="DBA" experience="2 year">DBA Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="3">
<name>Beccaa Moss</name>
<designation discipline="appdev">Application Developer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
</empinfo>
//employee/ancestor-or-self::*: Select all ancestor of the employee nodes and context node itself.
XPath selection: 2, 3, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 18 lines (4 node select).
//employee/ancestor-or-self::*
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<empinfo>
<employee id="1">
<name>Opal Kole</name>
<designation discipline="web" experience="3 year">Senior Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="2">
<name from="CA">Max Miller</name>
<designation discipline="DBA" experience="2 year">DBA Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="3">
<name>Beccaa Moss</name>
<designation discipline="appdev">Application Developer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
</empinfo>
//name/ancestor-or-self::employee: Select all ancestor of name node with context node itself.
XPath selection: 3 to 7, 8 to 12, 13 to 17 lines (3 node select).
//name/ancestor-or-self::employee
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<empinfo>
<employee id="1">
<name>Opal Kole</name>
<designation discipline="web" experience="3 year">Senior Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="2">
<name from="CA">Max Miller</name>
<designation discipline="DBA" experience="2 year">DBA Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="3">
<name>Beccaa Moss</name>
<designation discipline="appdev">Application Developer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
</empinfo>
//name/parent::*: Select parent node of the name context node.
XPath selection : 3 to 7, 8 to 12, 13 to 17 lines (3 node select).
//name/parent::*
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<empinfo>
<employee id="1">
<name>Opal Kole</name>
<designation discipline="web" experience="3 year">Senior Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="2">
<name from="CA">Max Miller</name>
<designation discipline="DBA" experience="2 year">DBA Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="3">
<name>Beccaa Moss</name>
<designation discipline="appdev">Application Developer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
</empinfo>
//name/parent::employee: Return result node if employee node is parent node of the context node, otherwise no node found.
XPath selection: 3 to 7, 8 to 12, 13 to 17 lines (3 node select).
//name/parent::employee
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<empinfo>
<employee id="1">
<name>Opal Kole</name>
<designation discipline="web" experience="3 year">Senior Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="2">
<name from="CA">Max Miller</name>
<designation discipline="DBA" experience="2 year">DBA Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="3">
<name>Beccaa Moss</name>
<designation discipline="appdev">Application Developer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
</empinfo>
//attribute::id: Select all node with id attribute.
XPath selection: id attribute value (3, 8, 13 lines).
//attribute::id
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<empinfo>
<employee id="1">
<name>Opal Kole</name>
<designation discipline="web" experience="3 year">Senior Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="2">
<name from="CA">Max Miller</name>
<designation discipline="DBA" experience="2 year">DBA Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="3">
<name>Beccaa Moss</name>
<designation discipline="appdev">Application Developer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
</empinfo>
//attribute::*: Select all node with any attribute.
XPath selection: select all attribute value in highlighted lines.
//attribute::*
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<empinfo>
<employee id="1">
<name>Opal Kole</name>
<designation discipline="web" experience="3 year">Senior Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="2">
<name from="CA">Max Miller</name>
<designation discipline="DBA" experience="2 year">DBA Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="3">
<name>Beccaa Moss</name>
<designation discipline="appdev">Application Developer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
</empinfo>
//employee[@id=1]/following::*: Select all nodes (with child nodes) after the context node.
XPath selection: 8 to 12, 9, 10, 11, 13 to 17, 14, 15, 16 lines (8 node select).
//employee[@id=1]/following::*
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<empinfo>
<employee id="1">
<name>Opal Kole</name>
<designation discipline="web" experience="3 year">Senior Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="2">
<name from="CA">Max Miller</name>
<designation discipline="DBA" experience="2 year">DBA Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="3">
<name>Beccaa Moss</name>
<designation discipline="appdev">Application Developer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
</empinfo>
//employee[@id=1]/following-sibling::*: Select all sibling nodes after the context node.
XPath selection: 8 to 12, 13 to 17 lines (2 node select).
//employee[@id=1]/following-sibling::*
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<empinfo>
<employee id="1">
<name>Opal Kole</name>
<designation discipline="web" experience="3 year">Senior Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="2">
<name from="CA">Max Miller</name>
<designation discipline="DBA" experience="2 year">DBA Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="3">
<name>Beccaa Moss</name>
<designation discipline="appdev">Application Developer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
</empinfo>
//employee[@id=3]/preceding::*: Select all nodes (with child nodes) before the context node.
XPath selection: 3 to 7, 4, 5, 6, 8 to 12, 9, 10, 11 lines (8 node select).
//employee[@id=3]/preceding::*
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<empinfo>
<employee id="1">
<name>Opal Kole</name>
<designation discipline="web" experience="3 year">Senior Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="2">
<name from="CA">Max Miller</name>
<designation discipline="DBA" experience="2 year">DBA Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="3">
<name>Beccaa Moss</name>
<designation discipline="appdev">Application Developer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
</empinfo>
//employee[@id=3]/preceding-sibling::*: Select all sibling nodes before the context node.
XPath selection: 3 to 7, 8 to 12 lines (2 node select).
//employee[@id=3]/preceding-sibling::*
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<empinfo>
<employee id="1">
<name>Opal Kole</name>
<designation discipline="web" experience="3 year">Senior Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="2">
<name from="CA">Max Miller</name>
<designation discipline="DBA" experience="2 year">DBA Engineer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee id="3">
<name>Beccaa Moss</name>
<designation discipline="appdev">Application Developer</designation>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
</empinfo>