XPath Study XPath Introduction
XPath is a language for finding
information in an XML document. XPath is used to navigate through elements and
attributes in an XML document.
What You Should Already Know
Before you continue you should have a basic understanding of the following:
- HTML / XHTML
- XML / XML Namespaces
If you want to study these subjects
first, find the tutorials on our Home page.
What is XPath?
- XPath is a syntax for defining parts of an XML document
- XPath uses path expressions to navigate in XML documents
- XPath contains a library of standard functions
- XPath is a major element in XSLT
- XPath is a W3C Standard
XPath Path Expressions
XPath uses
path expressions to select nodes or node-sets in an XML document. These path
expressions look very much like the expressions you see when you work with a
traditional computer file system.
XPath Standard Functions
XPath
includes over 100 built-in functions. There are functions for string values,
numeric values, date and time comparison, node and QName manipulation, sequence
manipulation, Boolean values, and more.
XPath is Used in XSLT
XPath is a
major element in the XSLT standard. Without XPath knowledge you will not be able
to create XSLT documents.
You can read more about XSLT in our XSLT tutorial.
XQuery and XPointer are both built on XPath expressions. XQuery 1.0 and
XPath 2.0 share the same data model and support the same functions and
operators.
You can read more about XQuery in our XQuery tutorial.
XPath is a W3C Standard
XPath became
a W3C Recommendation 16. November 1999.
XPath was designed to be used by
XSLT, XPointer and other XML parsing software.
You can read more about the
XPath standard in our W3C tutorial. XPath Nodes
In XPath, there are seven kinds
of nodes: element, attribute, text, namespace, processing-instruction, comment,
and document (root) nodes.
XPath Terminology Nodes
In
XPath, there are seven kinds of nodes: element, attribute, text, namespace,
processing-instruction, comment, and document (root) nodes. XML documents are
treated as trees of nodes. The root of the tree is called the document node (or
root node).
Look at the following XML document:
<BR> <author>J K.
Rowling</author> <PRE></PRE><BR> <year>2005</year><PRE></PRE><BR> <price>29.99</price><PRE></PRE><BR></book><PRE></PRE><BR></bookstore><PRE></PRE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR>Example of nodes in the XML document
above: <BR>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable border=1>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD><BR><bookstore> (document node)<PRE></PRE><BR><author>J K. Rowling</author> (element node)<PRE></PRE><BR>></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Atomic values <BR>Atomic values are
nodes with no children or parent. <BR>Example of atomic values: <BR>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable border=1>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD><BR>J K. Rowling<PRE></PRE><BR>"en"<PRE></PRE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Items <BR>Items are atomic values or nodes.
<DIV class=MsoNormal align=center></DIV>Relationship of Nodes Parent <BR>Each
element and attribute has one parent. <BR>In the following example; the book
element is the parent of the title, author, year, and price: <BR>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable border=1>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD><BR><book><PRE></PRE><BR> <title>Harry Potter
J K. Rowling
2005
29.99
|
Children
Element nodes may have zero,
one or more children.
In the following example; the title, author, year, and
price elements are all children of the book element:
Harry Potter
J K. Rowling
2005
29.99
|
Siblings
Nodes that have the same
parent.
In the following example; the title, author, year, and price
elements are all siblings:
Harry Potter
J K. Rowling
2005
29.99
|
Ancestors
A node's parent, parent's
parent, etc.
In the following example; the ancestors of the title element
are the book element and the bookstore element:
Harry Potter
J K. Rowling
2005
29.99
|
Descendants
A node's children,
children's children, etc.
In the following example; descendants of the
bookstore element are the book, title, author, year, and price elements:
Harry Potter
J K. Rowling
2005
29.99
|
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.
<BR> <price>29.99</price><PRE></PRE><BR></book><PRE></PRE><BR><book><PRE></PRE><BR> <title ><BR> <price>39.95</price><PRE></PRE><BR></book><PRE></PRE><BR></bookstore><PRE></PRE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR>
<DIV class=MsoNormal align=center></DIV>Selecting Nodes <BR>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:
<BR>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable border=1>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD><BR><B>Expression</B></TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR><B>Description</B></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR><EM>nodename</EM></TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all child nodes of the node</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>/</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects from the root node</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>//</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects nodes in the document from the current node that
match the selection no matter where they are </TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>.</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects the current node</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>..</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects the parent of the current node</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>@</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects attributes</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Examples <BR>In
the table below we have listed some path expressions and the result of the
expressions: <BR>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable border=1>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD><BR><B>Path Expression</B></TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR><B>Result</B></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>bookstore</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all the child nodes of the bookstore
element</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>/bookstore</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects the root element bookstore <BR><B>Note:</B> If the
path starts with a slash ( / ) it always represents an absolute path to an
element!</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>bookstore/book</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all book elements that are children of
bookstore</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>//book</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all book elements no matter where they are in the
document</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>bookstore//book</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all book elements that are descendant of the
bookstore element, no matter where they are under the bookstore
element</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>//@lang</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all attributes that are named
lang</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR>
<DIV class=MsoNormal align=center></DIV>Predicates <BR>Predicates are used to
find a specific node or a node that contains a specific value. <BR>Predicates
are always embedded in square brackets. Examples <BR>In the table below we have
listed some path expressions with predicates and the result of the expressions:
<BR>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable border=1>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD><BR><B>Path Expression</B></TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR><B>Result</B></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>/bookstore/book[1] </TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects the first book element that is the child of the
bookstore element</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>/bookstore/book[last()]</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects the last book element that is the child of the
bookstore element</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>/bookstore/book[last()-1]</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects the last but one book element that is the child of
the bookstore element</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>/bookstore/book[position()<3]</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects the first two book elements that are children of the
bookstore element</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>//title[@lang]</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all the title elements that have an attribute named
lang</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>//title[@> </TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all the title elements that have an attribute named
lang with a value of 'eng'</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>/bookstore/book[price>35.00]</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all the book elements of the bookstore element that
have a price element with a value greater than 35.00</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>/bookstore/book[price>35.00]/title</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR>
<DIV class=MsoNormal align=center></DIV>Selecting Unknown Nodes <BR>XPath
wildcards can be used to select unknown XML elements. <BR>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable border=1>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD><BR><B>Wildcard</B></TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR><B>Description</B></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>*</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Matches any element node</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>@*</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Matches any attribute node</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>node()</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Matches any node of any
kind</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Examples <BR>In the table below we have listed
some path expressions and the result of the expressions: <BR>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable border=1>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD><BR><B>Path Expression</B></TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR><B>Result</B></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>/bookstore/*</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all the child nodes of the bookstore
element</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>//*</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all elements in the document</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>//title[@*]</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all title elements which have any
attribute</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR>
<DIV class=MsoNormal align=center></DIV>Selecting Several Paths <BR>By using the
| operator in an XPath expression you can select several paths. Examples <BR>In
the table below we have listed some path expressions and the result of the
expressions: <BR>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable border=1>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD><BR><B>Path Expression</B></TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR><B>Result</B></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>//book/title | //book/price</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all the title AND price elements of all book
elements</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>//title | //price</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all the title AND price elements in the
document</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>/bookstore/book/title | //price</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all the title elements of the book element of the
bookstore element AND all the price elements in the
document</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>XPath Axes <BR><v:shape
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<DIV class=MsoNormal align=center></DIV>The XML Example Document <BR>We will use
the following XML document in the examples below. <BR>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable border=1>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD><BR><?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?><PRE></PRE><BR><bookstore><PRE></PRE><BR><book><PRE></PRE><BR> <title ><BR> <price>29.99</price><PRE></PRE><BR></book><PRE></PRE><BR><book><PRE></PRE><BR> <title ><BR> <price>39.95</price><PRE></PRE><BR></book><PRE></PRE><BR></bookstore><PRE></PRE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR>
<DIV class=MsoNormal align=center></DIV>XPath Axes <BR>An axis defines a
node-set relative to the current node. <BR>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable border=1>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD><BR><B>AxisName</B></TD>
<TD><BR><B>Result</B></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>ancestor</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all ancestors (parent, grandparent, etc.) of the
current node</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>ancestor-or-self</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all ancestors (parent, grandparent, etc.) of the
current node and the current node itself</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>attribute</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all attributes of the current node</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>child</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all children of the current node</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>descendant</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all descendants (children, grandchildren, etc.) of
the current node</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>descendant-or-self</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all descendants (children, grandchildren, etc.) of
the current node and the current node itself</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>following</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects everything in the document after the closing tag of
the current node</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>following-sibling</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all siblings after the current node</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>namespace</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all namespace nodes of the current node</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>parent</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects the parent of the current node</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>preceding</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects everything in the document that is before the start
tag of the current node</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>preceding-sibling</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all siblings before the current node</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>self</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects the current node</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR>
<DIV class=MsoNormal align=center></DIV>Location Path Expression <BR>A location
path can be absolute or relative. <BR>An absolute location path starts with a
slash ( / ) and a relative location path does not. In both cases the location
path consists of one or more steps, each separated by a slash: <BR>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable border=1>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>An absolute location path:<PRE></PRE><BR>/step/step/...<PRE></PRE><BR>A relative location path:<PRE></PRE><BR>step/step/...<PRE></PRE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR>Each step is evaluated against the
nodes in the current node-set. <BR>A step consists of:
<UL>
<LI>an axis (defines the tree-relationship between the selected nodes and the
current node)
<LI>a node-test (identifies a node within an axis)
<LI>zero or more predicates (to further refine the selected node-set)
</LI></UL><BR>The syntax for a location step is: <BR>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable border=1>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>axisname::nodetest[predicate]<PRE></PRE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Examples <BR>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable border=1>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD><BR><B>Example</B></TD>
<TD><BR><B>Result</B></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>child::book</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all book nodes that are children of the current
node</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>attribute::lang</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects the lang attribute of the current node</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>child::*</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all children of the current node</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>attribute::*</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all attributes of the current node</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>child::text()</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all text child nodes of the current node</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>child::node()</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all child nodes of the current node</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>descendant::book</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all book descendants of the current node</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>ancestor::book</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all book ancestors of the current node</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>ancestor-or-self::book</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all book ancestors of the current node - and the
current as well if it is a book node</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>child::*/child::price</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Selects all price grandchildren of the current
node</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>XPath Operators <BR><v:shape
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<DIV class=MsoNormal align=center></DIV><BR><B>An XPath expression returns
either a node-set, a string, a Boolean, or a number.</B>
<DIV class=MsoNormal align=center><B></B></DIV>XPath Operators <BR>Below is a
list of the operators that can be used in XPath expressions: <BR>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable border=1>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD><BR><B>Operator</B></TD>
<TD><BR><B>Description</B></TD>
<TD><BR><B>Example</B></TD>
<TD><BR><B>Return value</B></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>|</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Computes two node-sets</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>//book | //cd</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Returns a node-set with all book and cd elements</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>+</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Addition</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>6 + 4</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>10</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>-</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Subtraction</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>6 - 4</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>2</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>*</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Multiplication</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>6 * 4</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>24</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>div</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Division</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>8 div 4</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>2</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>=</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Equal</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>price=9.80</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>true if price is 9.80<B>false if price is 9.90</B></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>!=</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Not equal</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>price!=9.80</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>true if price is 9.90<B>false if price is 9.80</B></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>< </TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Less than</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>price<9.80</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>true if price is 9.00<B>false if price is 9.80</B></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR><=</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Less than or equal to</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>price<=9.80</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>true if price is 9.00<B>false if price is 9.90</B></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>> </TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Greater than</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>price>9.80</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>true if price is 9.90<B>false if price is 9.80</B></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>>=</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Greater than or equal to</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>price>=9.80</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>true if price is 9.90<B>false if price is 9.70</B></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>or</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>or</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>price=9.80 or price=9.70</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>true if price is 9.80<B>false if price is 9.50</B></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>and</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>and </TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>price>9.00 and price<9.90</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>true if price is 9.80<B>false if price is 8.50</B></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>mod</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>Modulus (division remainder)</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>5 mod 2</TD>
<TD vAlign=top><BR>1</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>XPath Examples <BR><v:shape
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<DIV class=MsoNormal align=center></DIV><BR><B>Let's try to learn some basic
XPath syntax by looking at some examples.</B>
<DIV class=MsoNormal align=center><B></B></DIV>The XML Example Document <BR>We
will use the following XML document in the examples below. <BR>"books.xml": <BR>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable border=1>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD><BR><?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?><PRE></PRE><BR><bookstore><PRE></PRE><BR><book category="COOKING"><PRE></PRE><BR> <title ><BR> <author>Giada De
Laurentiis</author><PRE></PRE><BR> <year>2005</year><PRE></PRE><BR> <price>30.00</price><PRE></PRE><BR></book><PRE></PRE><BR><book category="CHILDREN"><PRE></PRE><BR> <title ><BR> <author>J K.
Rowling</author><PRE></PRE><BR> <year>2005</year><PRE></PRE><BR> <price>29.99</price><PRE></PRE><BR></book><PRE></PRE><BR><book category="WEB"><PRE></PRE><BR> <title ><BR> <author>James
McGovern</author><PRE></PRE><BR> <author>Per Bothner</author><PRE></PRE><BR> <author>Kurt Cagle</author><PRE></PRE><BR> <author>James Linn</author><PRE></PRE><BR> <author>Vaidyanathan Nagarajan</author><PRE></PRE><BR> <year>2003</year><PRE></PRE><BR> <price>49.99</price><PRE></PRE><BR></book><PRE></PRE><BR><book category="WEB"><PRE></PRE><BR> <title ><BR> <author>Erik T.
Ray</author><PRE></PRE><BR> <year>2003</year><PRE></PRE><BR> <price>39.95</price><PRE></PRE><BR></book><PRE></PRE><BR></bookstore><PRE></PRE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR>View the "books.xml" file in your
browser.
<DIV class=MsoNormal align=center></DIV>Selecting Nodes <BR>We will use the
Microsoft XMLDOM object to load the XML document and the selectNodes() function
to select nodes from the XML document: <BR>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable border=1>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD><BR>set xmlDoc=CreateObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM")<PRE></PRE><BR>xmlDoc.async="false"<PRE></PRE><BR>xmlDoc.load("books.xml")<PRE></PRE><BR>xmlDoc.selectNodes(<EM>path expression</EM>)<PRE></PRE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR>
<DIV class=MsoNormal align=center></DIV>Select all book Nodes <BR>The following
example selects all the book nodes under the bookstore element: <BR>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable border=1>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD><BR>xmlDoc.selectNodes("/bookstore/book")<PRE></PRE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR>If you have IE 5 or higher you can try
it yourself.
<DIV class=MsoNormal align=center></DIV>Select the First book Node <BR>The
following example selects only the first book node under the bookstore element:
<BR>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable border=1>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD><BR>xmlDoc.selectNodes("/bookstore/book[0]")<PRE></PRE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR>If you have IE 5 or higher you can try
it yourself. <BR><B>Note:</B> IE 5 and 6 has implemented that [0] should be the
first node, but according to the W3C standard it should have been [1]!!
<BR><B>Note:</B> This is corrected in IE 6 SP2!
<DIV class=MsoNormal align=center></DIV>Select the prices <BR>The following
example selects the text from all the price nodes: <BR>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable border=1>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD><BR>xmlDoc.selectNodes("/bookstore/book/price/text()") <PRE></PRE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR>If you have IE 5 or higher you can try
it yourself.
<DIV class=MsoNormal align=center></DIV>Selecting price Nodes with Price>35
<BR>The following example selects all the price nodes with a price higher than
35: <BR>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable border=1>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD><BR>xmlDoc.selectNodes("/bookstore/book[price>35]/price") <PRE></PRE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR>If you have IE 5 or higher you can try
it yourself.
<DIV class=MsoNormal align=center></DIV>Selecting title Nodes with Price>35
<BR>The following example selects all the title nodes with a price higher
than 35: <BR>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable border=1>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD><BR>xmlDoc.selectNodes("/bookstore/book[price>35]/title") <PRE></PRE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR>If you have IE 5 or higher you can try
it yourself. <BR></div>
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