XPath

About the Tutorial

XPath is a query language that is used for traversing through an XML document. It is used
commonly to search particular elements or attributes with matching patterns.

This tutorial explains the basics of XPath. It contains chapters discussing all the basic
components of XPath with suitable examples.

Audience
This tutorials has been designed for beginners to help them understand the basic concepts
related to XPath. This tutorial will give you enough understanding on XPath from where
you can take yourself to higher levels of expertise.

Prerequisites
Before proceeding with this tutorial, you should have basic knowledge of XML, HTML, and
JavaScript.

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 XPath

Table of Contents
About the Tutorial .................................................................................................................................... i

Audience .................................................................................................................................................. i

Prerequisites ............................................................................................................................................ i

Disclaimer & Copyright............................................................................................................................. i

1. XPATH – OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................ 1

XSL .......................................................................................................................................................... 1

Need for XSL............................................................................................................................................ 1

What is XPath .......................................................................................................................................... 1

Features .................................................................................................................................................. 2

2. XPATH — EXPRESSION........................................................................................................... 3

Verify the output..................................................................................................................................... 6

3. XPATH — NODES ...................................................................................................................... 7

XPath Root Node ..................................................................................................................................... 7

Verify the output................................................................................................................................... 10

XPath Element Node ............................................................................................................................. 10

Verify the output................................................................................................................................... 14

XPath Text Node ................................................................................................................................... 14

Verify the output................................................................................................................................... 17

XPath Attribute Node ............................................................................................................................ 18

Verify the output................................................................................................................................... 20

XPath Comment Node ........................................................................................................................... 21

Verify the output................................................................................................................................... 23

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 XPath

4. XPATH — ABSOLUTE PATH ................................................................................................ 24

Verify the output................................................................................................................................... 26

5. XPATH — RELATIVE PATH ................................................................................................. 27

Verify the output................................................................................................................................... 29

6. XPATH — AXES........................................................................................................................ 30

Verify the output................................................................................................................................... 32

7. XPATH — OPERATORS ......................................................................................................... 33

XPath Comparison Operators ................................................................................................................ 33

Verify the output................................................................................................................................... 36

XPath Boolean Operators ...................................................................................................................... 36

Verify the output................................................................................................................................... 38

XPath Number Operators / Functions ................................................................................................... 39

Verify the output................................................................................................................................... 42

XPath String Functions .......................................................................................................................... 42

Verify the output................................................................................................................................... 45

XPath Node Functions ........................................................................................................................... 45

Verify the output................................................................................................................................... 47

8. XPATH — WILDCARD ........................................................................................................... 49

Verify the output................................................................................................................................... 52

9. XPATH — PREDICATE........................................................................................................... 53

Verify the output................................................................................................................................... 56

iii
 1. XPath – Overview XPath

Before learning XPath, we should first understand XSL which stands for
Extensible Stylesheet Language. It is similar to XML as CSS is to HTML.

Need for XSL

In case of HTML documents, tags are predefined such as table, div, span, etc. The browser
knows how to add style to them and display them using CSS styles. But in case of XML
documents, tags are not predefined. In order to understand and style an XML document,
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) developed XSL which can act as an XML-based
Stylesheet Language. An XSL document specifies how a browser should render an XML
document.

Following are the main parts of XSL:

 XSLT — used to transform XML documents into various other types of document.

 XPath — used to navigate XML documents.

 XSL-FO — used to format XML documents.

What is XPath?
XPath is an official recommendation of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). It defines
a language to find information in an XML file. It is used to traverse elements and attributes
of an XML document. XPath provides various types of expressions which can be used to
enquire relevant information from the XML document.

 Structure Definitions — XPath defines the parts of an XML document like

element, attribute, text, namespace, processing-instruction, comment, and
document nodes

 Path Expressions — XPath provides powerful path expressions select nodes or

list of nodes in XML documents.

 Standard Functions — XPath provides a rich library of standard functions for

manipulation of string values, numeric values, date and time comparison, node and
QName manipulation, sequence manipulation, Boolean values etc.

 Major part of XSLT — XPath is one of the major elements in XSLT standard and
is must have knowledge in order to work with XSLT documents.

 W3C recommendation — XPath is an official recommendation of World Wide Web

Consortium (W3C).

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 XPath

One should keep the following points in mind, while working with XPath:

 XPath is core component of XSLT standard.

 XSLT cannot work without XPath.
 XPath is basis of XQuery and XPointer.

2
 2. XPath — Expression XPath

An XPath expression generally defines a pattern in order to select a set of nodes. These
patterns are used by XSLT to perform transformations or by XPointer for addressing
purpose.

XPath specification specifies seven types of nodes which can be the output of execution of
the XPath expression.

 Root

 Element

 Text

 Attribute

 Comment

 Processing Instruction

 Namespace

XPath uses a path expression to select node or a list of nodes from an XML document.

Following is the list of useful paths and expression to select any node/ list of nodes from
an XML document.

Expression Description

node-name Select all nodes with the given name "nodename"

/ Selection starts from the root node

// Selection starts from the current node that match the selection

. Selects the current node

.. Selects the parent of the current node

@ Selects attributes

student Example: Selects all nodes with the name "student"

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 XPath

class/student Example: Selects all student elements that are children of class

//student Selects all student elements no matter where they are in the document

Example
In this example, we've created a sample XML document, students.xml and its stylesheet
document students.xsl which uses the XPath expressions under select attribute of
various XSL tags to get the values of roll no, firstname, lastname, nickname and marks of
each student node.

students.xml
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="students.xsl"?>
<class>
<student rollno="393">
<firstname>Dinkar</firstname>
<lastname>Kad</lastname>
<nickname>Dinkar</nickname>
<marks>85</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="493">
<firstname>Vaneet</firstname>
<lastname>Gupta</lastname>
<nickname>Vinni</nickname>
<marks>95</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="593">
<firstname>Jasvir</firstname>
<lastname>Singh</lastname>
<nickname>Jazz</nickname>
<marks>90</marks>
</student>
</class>

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 XPath

students.xsl
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">

<xsl:template match="/">
<html>
<body>
<h2>Students</h2>
<table border="1">
<tr bgcolor="#9acd32">
<th>Roll No</th>
<th>First Name</th>
<th>Last Name</th>
<th>Nick Name</th>
<th>Marks</th>
</tr>
<xsl:for-each select="class/student">
<tr>
<td>
<xsl:value-of select="@rollno"/>
</td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="firstname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="lastname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="nickname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="marks"/></td>
</tr>
</xsl:for-each>
</table>
</body>
</html>
</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

5
 XPath

Verify the output

6
 3. XPath — Nodes XPath

In this chapter, we'll see the XPath expression in details covering common types of Nodes,
XPath defines and handles.

S.N. Node Type & Description

Root
1
Root element node of an XML Document.

Element
2
Element node.

Text
3
Text of an element node.

Attribute
4
Attribute of an element node.

Comment
5
Comment

Let us now understand the nodes in detail.

XPath Root Node

Following are the ways to get root element and do the processing afterwards.

Use Wildcard
Use /*, wild card expression to select the root node.

<p><xsl:value-of select="name(/*)"/></p>

Use Name
Use /class, to select root node by name.

<p><xsl:value-of select="name(/class)"/></p>

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 XPath

Use Name with wild card

Use /class/*, select all element under root node.

<p><xsl:value-of select="name(/class/*)"/></p>

Example
In this example, we've created a sample XML document students.xml and its stylesheet
document students.xsl which uses the XPath expressions.

Following is the sample XML used.

students.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="students.xsl"?>
<class>
<student rollno="393">
<firstname>Dinkar</firstname>
<lastname>Kad</lastname>
<nickname>Dinkar</nickname>
<marks>85</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="493">
<firstname>Vaneet</firstname>
<lastname>Gupta</lastname>
<nickname>Vinni</nickname>
<marks>95</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="593">
<firstname>Jasvir</firstname>
<lastname>Singh</lastname>
<nickname>Jazz</nickname>
<marks>90</marks>
</student>
</class>

8
 XPath

students.xsl

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:template match="/">
<html>
<body>
<h3>Root Element. Xpath expression = "/*"</h3>
<p><xsl:value-of select="name(/*)"/></p>
<h3>Root Element. Xpath expression = "/class"</h3>
<p> <xsl:value-of select="name(/class)"/></p>
<h3>Details of each Students. Xpath expression = "/class/*"</h3>
<table border="1">
<tr bgcolor="#9acd32">
<th>Roll No</th>
<th>First Name</th>
<th>Last Name</th>
<th>Nick Name</th>
<th>Marks</th>
</tr>
<xsl:for-each select="/class/*">
<tr>
<td>
<xsl:value-of select="@rollno"/>
</td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="firstname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="lastname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="nickname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="marks"/></td>
</tr>
</xsl:for-each>
</table>
</body>
</html>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

9
 XPath

Verify the output

XPath Element Node

There are multiple ways to get and handle elements.

/class/* — select all element under root node.

<xsl:for-each select="/class/*">

/class/student — select all student element under root node.

<xsl:for-each select="/class/student">

//student — select all student elements in the document.

<xsl:for-each select="//student">

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 XPath

Example
In this example, we've created a sample XML document students.xml and its stylesheet
document students.xsl which uses the XPath expressions.

Following is the sample XML used.

students.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="students.xsl"?>
<class>
<student rollno="393">
<firstname>Dinkar</firstname>
<lastname>Kad</lastname>
<nickname>Dinkar</nickname>
<marks>85</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="493">
<firstname>Vaneet</firstname>
<lastname>Gupta</lastname>
<nickname>Vinni</nickname>
<marks>95</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="593">
<firstname>Jasvir</firstname>
<lastname>Singh</lastname>
<nickname>Jazz</nickname>
<marks>90</marks>
</student>
</class>

students.xsl

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:template match="/">
<html>
<body>
<h3>Details of each Students. Xpath expression = "/class/*"</h3>

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 XPath

<table border="1">
<tr bgcolor="#9acd32">
<th>Roll No</th>
<th>First Name</th>
<th>Last Name</th>
<th>Nick Name</th>
<th>Marks</th>
</tr>
<xsl:for-each select="/class/*">
<tr>
<td>
<xsl:value-of select="@rollno"/>
</td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="firstname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="lastname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="nickname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="marks"/></td>
</tr>
</xsl:for-each>
</table>
<h3>Details of each Students. Xpath expression = "/class/student"</h3>
<table border="1">
<tr bgcolor="#9acd32">
<th>Roll No</th>
<th>First Name</th>
<th>Last Name</th>
<th>Nick Name</th>
<th>Marks</th>
</tr>
<xsl:for-each select="/class/student">
<tr>
<td>
<xsl:value-of select="@rollno"/>
</td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="firstname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="lastname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="nickname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="marks"/></td>

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 XPath

</tr>
</xsl:for-each>
</table>
<h3>Details of each Students. Xpath expression = "//student"</h3>
<table border="1">
<tr bgcolor="#9acd32">
<th>Roll No</th>
<th>First Name</th>
<th>Last Name</th>
<th>Nick Name</th>
<th>Marks</th>
</tr>
<xsl:for-each select="//student">
<tr>
<td>
<xsl:value-of select="@rollno"/>
</td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="firstname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="lastname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="nickname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="marks"/></td>
</tr>
</xsl:for-each>
</table>
</body>
</html>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

13
 XPath

Verify the output

XPath Text Node

Text can be easily retrieved and checked by using the name of the element.

name — get the text value of node "name".

<td><xsl:value-of select="firstname"/></td>

Text can be used to compared using operators.

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 XPath

marks > 85 — get the text value of node "marks" and compare with a value.

<xsl:if test="marks > 85">

Example
In this example, we've created a sample XML document students.xml and its stylesheet
document students.xsl which uses the XPath expressions.

Following is the sample XML used.

students.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="students.xsl"?>
<class>
<student rollno="393">
<firstname>Dinkar</firstname>
<lastname>Kad</lastname>
<nickname>Dinkar</nickname>
<marks>85</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="493">
<firstname>Vaneet</firstname>
<lastname>Gupta</lastname>
<nickname>Vinni</nickname>
<marks>95</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="593">
<firstname>Jasvir</firstname>
<lastname>Singh</lastname>
<nickname>Jazz</nickname>
<marks>90</marks>
</student>
</class>

students.xsl

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">

15
 XPath

<xsl:template match="/">
<html>

<body>
<h3>Details of each Students. Xpath expression = "/class/student"</h3>
<table border="1">
<tr bgcolor="#9acd32">
<th>Roll No</th>
<th>First Name</th>
<th>Last Name</th>
<th>Nick Name</th>
<th>Marks</th>
</tr>
<xsl:for-each select="/class/student">
<tr>
<td>
<xsl:value-of select="@rollno"/>
</td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="firstname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="lastname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="nickname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="marks"/></td>
</tr>
</xsl:for-each>
</table>
<h3>Details of each Students whose marks are greater than 85. Xpath
expression = "marks > 85"</h3>
<table border="1">
<tr bgcolor="#9acd32">
<th>Roll No</th>
<th>First Name</th>
<th>Last Name</th>
<th>Nick Name</th>
<th>Marks</th>
</tr>
<xsl:for-each select="//student">
<xsl:if test="marks > 85">
<tr>
<td>

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 XPath

<xsl:value-of select="@rollno"/>
</td>

<td><xsl:value-of select="firstname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="lastname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="nickname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="marks"/></td>
</tr>
</xsl:if>
</xsl:for-each>
</table>
</body>
</html>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Verify the output

17
 XPath

XPath Attribute Node

This attribute can be easily retrieved and checked by using the @attribute-name of the
element.

@name - get the value of attribute "name".

<td><xsl:value-of select="@rollno"/></td>

Attribute can be used to compared using operators.

@rollno = 493 - get the text value of attribute "rollno" and compare with a value.

<xsl:if test="@rollno = 493">

Example
In this example, we've created a sample XML document students.xml and its stylesheet
document students.xsl which uses the XPath expressions.

Following is the sample XML used.

students.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="students.xsl"?>
<class>
<student rollno="393">
<firstname>Dinkar</firstname>
<lastname>Kad</lastname>
<nickname>Dinkar</nickname>
<marks>85</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="493">
<firstname>Vaneet</firstname>
<lastname>Gupta</lastname>
<nickname>Vinni</nickname>
<marks>95</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="593">
<firstname>Jasvir</firstname>
<lastname>Singh</lastname>
<nickname>Jazz</nickname>

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 XPath

<marks>90</marks>
</student>
</class>

students.xsl

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:template match="/">
<html>
<body>
<h3>Details of each Students. Xpath expression = "/class/student"</h3>
<table border="1">
<tr bgcolor="#9acd32">
<th>Roll No</th>
<th>First Name</th>
<th>Last Name</th>
<th>Nick Name</th>
<th>Marks</th>
</tr>
<xsl:for-each select="/class/student">
<tr>
<td>
<xsl:value-of select="@rollno"/>
</td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="firstname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="lastname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="nickname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="marks"/></td>
</tr>
</xsl:for-each>
</table>
<h3>Details of Student whose roll no is 493. Xpath expression = "@rollno =
493"</h3>
<table border="1">
<tr bgcolor="#9acd32">
<th>Roll No</th>

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 XPath

<th>First Name</th>
<th>Last Name</th>
<th>Nick Name</th>
<th>Marks</th>
</tr>
<xsl:for-each select="//student">
<xsl:if test="@rollno = 493">
<tr>
<td>
<xsl:value-of select="@rollno"/>
</td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="firstname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="lastname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="nickname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="marks"/></td>
</tr>
</xsl:if>
</xsl:for-each>
</table>
</body>
</html>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Verify the output

20
 XPath

XPath Comment Node

Comment can be easily retrieved of the element.

comment() - get the value of attribute "name".

<xsl:value-of select="/class/student/preceding-sibling::comment()"/>

Example
In this example, we've created a sample XML document students.xml and its stylesheet
document students.xsl which uses the XPath expressions.

Following is the sample XML used.

students.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="students.xsl"?>
<class>

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 XPath

<!-- Comment: This is a list of student -->

<student rollno="393">
<firstname>Dinkar</firstname>
<lastname>Kad</lastname>
<nickname>Dinkar</nickname>
<marks>85</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="493">
<firstname>Vaneet</firstname>
<lastname>Gupta</lastname>
<nickname>Vinni</nickname>
<marks>95</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="593">
<firstname>Jasvir</firstname>
<lastname>Singh</lastname>
<nickname>Jazz</nickname>
<marks>90</marks>
</student>
</class>

students.xsl

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:template match="/">
<html>
<body>
<h3>Comment(). Xpath expression = "/class/student/preceding-
sibling::comment()"</h3>
<xsl:value-of select="/class/student/preceding-sibling::comment()"/>

<table border="1">
<tr bgcolor="#9acd32">
<th>Roll No</th>
<th>First Name</th>
<th>Last Name</th>

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 XPath

<th>Nick Name</th>
<th>Marks</th>
</tr>
<xsl:for-each select="/class/student">
<tr>
<td>
<xsl:value-of select="@rollno"/>
</td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="firstname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="lastname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="nickname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="marks"/></td>
</tr>
</xsl:for-each>
</table>
</body>
</html>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Verify the output

23
 4. XPath — Absolute Path XPath

Location path specifies the location of node in XML document. This path can be absolute
or relative. If location path starts with root node or with '/' then it is an absolute path.
Following are few of the example locating the elements using absolute path.

/class/student - select student nodes within class root node.

<xsl:for-each select="/class/student">

/class/student/firstname - select firstname of a student node within class root node.

<p><xsl:value-of select="/class/student/firstname"/></p>

Example
In this example, we've created a sample XML document students.xml and its stylesheet
document students.xsl which uses XPath expressions.

Following is the sample XML used.

students.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="students.xsl"?>
<class>
<student rollno="393">
<firstname>Dinkar</firstname>
<lastname>Kad</lastname>
<nickname>Dinkar</nickname>
<marks>85</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="493">
<firstname>Vaneet</firstname>
<lastname>Gupta</lastname>
<nickname>Vinni</nickname>
<marks>95</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="593">
<firstname>Jasvir</firstname>
<lastname>Singh</lastname>

24
 XPath

<nickname>Jazz</nickname>
<marks>90</marks>
</student>
</class>

students.xsl

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:template match="/" >
<html>
<body>
<h3>Details of each Students. </h3>
<table border="1">
<tr bgcolor="#9acd32">
<th>Roll No</th>
<th>First Name</th>
<th>Last Name</th>
<th>Nick Name</th>
<th>Marks</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<xsl:value-of select="/class/student[1]/@rollno"/>
</td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="/class/student[1]/firstname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="/class/student[1]/lastname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="/class/student[1]/nickname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="/class/student[1]/marks"/></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<xsl:value-of select="/class/student/@rollno"/>
</td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="/class/student[2]/firstname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="/class/student[2]/lastname"/></td>

25
 XPath

<td><xsl:value-of select="/class/student[2]/nickname"/></td>

<td><xsl:value-of select="/class/student[2]/marks"/></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<xsl:value-of select="/class/student[3]/@rollno"/>
</td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="/class/student[3]/firstname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="/class/student[3]/lastname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="/class/student[3]/nickname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="/class/student[3]/marks"/></td>
</tr>

</table>

</body>
</html>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Verify the output

26
 5. XPath — Relative Path XPath

Location path specifies the location of node in XML document. This path can be absolute
or relative. If location path starts with the node that we've selected, then it is a relative
path.

Following are a few examples locating the elements using relative path.

firstname — select firstname related to student nodes .

<p><xsl:value-of select="firstname"/></p>

Example
In this example, we've created a sample XML document students.xml and its stylesheet
document students.xsl which uses the XPath expressions.

Following is the sample XML used.

students.XML
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="students.xsl"?>
<class>
<student rollno="393">
<firstname>Dinkar</firstname>
<lastname>Kad</lastname>
<nickname>Dinkar</nickname>
<marks>85</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="493">
<firstname>Vaneet</firstname>
<lastname>Gupta</lastname>
<nickname>Vinni</nickname>
<marks>95</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="593">
<firstname>Jasvir</firstname>
<lastname>Singh</lastname>
<nickname>Jazz</nickname>
<marks>90</marks>

27
 XPath

</student>
</class>

students.xsl

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:template match="/" >
<html>
<body>
<h3>Details of each Students. </h3>
<table border="1">
<tr bgcolor="#9acd32">
<th>Roll No</th>
<th>First Name</th>
<th>Last Name</th>
<th>Nick Name</th>
<th>Marks</th>
</tr>
<xsl:for-each select="/class/student">
<tr>
<td>
<xsl:value-of select="@rollno"/>
</td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="firstname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="lastname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="nickname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="marks"/></td>
</tr>
</xsl:for-each>
</table>
</body>
</html>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

28
 XPath

Verify the output

29
 6. XPath — Axes XPath

As location path defines the location of a node using absolute or relative path, axes are
used to identify elements by their relationship like parent, child, sibling, etc. Axes are
named so because they refer to axis on which elements are lying relative to an element.

Following is the list of various Axis values.

Axis Description

Represents the ancestors of the current node which include the

ancestor
parents up to the root node.

ancestor-or-
Represents the current node and it's ancestors.
self

attribute Represents the attributes of the current node.

child Represents the children of the current node.

Represents the descendants of the current node. Descendants include

descendant
the node's children upto the leaf node(no more children).

descendant-or-
Represents the current node and it's descendants.
self

following Represents all nodes that come after the current node.

following- Represents the following siblings of the context node. Siblings are at
sibling the same level as the current node and share it's parent.

namespace Represents the namespace of the current node.

parent Represents the parent of the current node.

Represents all nodes that come before the current node (i.e. before
preceding
it's opening tag).

self Represents the current node.

30
 XPath

Following are a few examples on the use of axes.

firstname — select firstname related to student nodes.

<p><xsl:value-of select="firstname"/></p>
<xsl:value-of select="/class/student/preceding-sibling::comment()"/>

Example
In this example, we've created a sample XML document students.xml and its stylesheet
document students.xsl which uses the XPath expressions.

Following is the sample XML used.

students.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="students.xsl"?>
<class>
<!-- Comment: This is a list of student -->
<student rollno="393">
<firstname>Dinkar</firstname>
<lastname>Kad</lastname>
<nickname>Dinkar</nickname>
<marks>85</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="493">
<firstname>Vaneet</firstname>
<lastname>Gupta</lastname>
<nickname>Vinni</nickname>
<marks>95</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="593">
<firstname>Jasvir</firstname>
<lastname>Singh</lastname>
<nickname>Jazz</nickname>
<marks>90</marks>
</student>
</class>

students.xsl

31
 XPath

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:template match="/" >
<html>
<body>
<xsl:value-of select="/class/student/preceding-sibling::comment()"/>
<br/>
<xsl:text>First Student: </xsl:text>
<xsl:value-of select="/class/student/child::firstname" />
</body>
</html>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Verify the output

32
 7. XPath — Operators XPath

In this chapter, we'll see XPath operators and functions in details covering commonly used
XPath defines and handles. XPath defines Operators and functions on Nodes, String,
Number and Boolean types.

Following is the list we are going to discuss about.

S.N. Operators/Functions & Description

Comparison Operators
1
Comparison operators to compare values.

Boolean Operators
2
Boolean operators to check 'and', 'or' & 'not' functionalities.

Number Functions/Operators
3
Operators/Functions on numbers.

String Functions
4
Various string functions.

Node Functions/Operators
5
Various functions and operators acting on nodes.

XPath Comparison Operators

XPath defines following comparison operators to be used with the XPath expressions.

Operator Description

= is equals to

!= is not equals to

< is less than

> is greater than

<= is less than or equals to

33
 XPath

>= is greater than or equals to

Example
This example creates a table of <student> element with its attribute roll no and its child
<firstname>,<lastname><nickname> and <marks> by iterating over each student. It
checks marks to be greater than 90 and then prints the student(s) details.

students.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="students.xsl"?>
<class>
<student rollno="393">
<firstname>Dinkar</firstname>
<lastname>Kad</lastname>
<nickname>Dinkar</nickname>
<marks>85</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="493">
<firstname>Vaneet</firstname>
<lastname>Gupta</lastname>
<nickname>Vinni</nickname>
<marks>95</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="593">
<firstname>Jasvir</firstname>
<lastname>Singh</lastname>
<nickname>Jazz</nickname>
<marks>90</marks>
</student>
</class>

students.xsl

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">

<xsl:template match="/">

34
 XPath

<html>
<body>
<h2>Students</h2>
<table border="1">
<tr bgcolor="#9acd32">
<th>Roll No</th>
<th>First Name</th>
<th>Last Name</th>
<th>Nick Name</th>
<th>Marks</th>
</tr>
<xsl:for-each select="class/student">
<xsl:if test="marks > 90">
<tr>
<td>
<xsl:value-of select="@rollno"/>
</td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="firstname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="lastname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="nickname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="marks"/></td>
</tr>
</xsl:if>
</xsl:for-each>
</table>
</body>
</html>
</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

35
 XPath

Verify the output

XPath Boolean Operators

XPath defines the following Boolean operators to be used with the XPath expressions.

Operator Description

and both conditions to be satisfied

or any one of the condition to be satisfied

not() function to check condition not to be satisfied.

Example
This example creates a table of <student> element with its attribute roll no and its child
<firstname>,<lastname><nickname> and <marks> by iterating over each student. It
checks rollno to be either 393 or 493 and then prints the student(s) details.

students.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="students.xsl"?>
<class>
<student rollno="393">
<firstname>Dinkar</firstname>

36
 XPath

<lastname>Kad</lastname>
<nickname>Dinkar</nickname>

<marks>85</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="493">
<firstname>Vaneet</firstname>
<lastname>Gupta</lastname>
<nickname>Vinni</nickname>
<marks>95</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="593">
<firstname>Jasvir</firstname>
<lastname>Singh</lastname>
<nickname>Jazz</nickname>
<marks>90</marks>
</student>
</class>

students.xsl

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">

<xsl:template match="/">
<html>
<body>
<h2>Students</h2>
<table border="1">
<tr bgcolor="#9acd32">
<th>Roll No</th>
<th>First Name</th>
<th>Last Name</th>
<th>Nick Name</th>
<th>Marks</th>
</tr>
<xsl:for-each select="class/student[(@rollno = 393) or ((@rollno = 493))]">

37
 XPath

<tr>

<td>
<xsl:value-of select="@rollno"/>
</td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="firstname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="lastname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="nickname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="marks"/></td>
</tr>
</xsl:for-each>
</table>
</body>
</html>
</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

Verify the output

38
 XPath

XPath Number Operators / Functions

XPath defines the following operators on numbers to be used with the XPath expressions.

Operator Description

+ used for addition operation

- used for subtraction operation

* used for multiplication operation

div used for division operation

mod used for modulo operation

XPath defines the following functions on numbers to be used with the XPath expressions.

Function Description

ceiling() returns the smallest integer larger than the value provided.

floor() returns the largest integer smaller than the value provided.

round() returns the rounded value to nearest integer.

sum() returns the sum of two numbers.

Example
This example creates a table of <student> element with its attribute roll no and its child
<firstname>,<lastname><nickname> and <marks> by iterating over each student. It
calculates grades of the student and then prints the student(s) details.

students.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="students.xsl"?>
<class>
<student rollno="393">
<firstname>Dinkar</firstname>
<lastname>Kad</lastname>
<nickname>Dinkar</nickname>
<marks>85</marks>
</student>

39
 XPath

<student rollno="493">
<firstname>Vaneet</firstname>
<lastname>Gupta</lastname>
<nickname>Vinni</nickname>
<marks>95</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="593">
<firstname>Jasvir</firstname>
<lastname>Singh</lastname>
<nickname>Jazz</nickname>
<marks>90</marks>
</student>
</class>

students.xsl

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">

<xsl:template match="/">
<html>
<body>
<h2>Students</h2>
<table border="1">
<tr bgcolor="#9acd32">
<th>Roll No</th>
<th>First Name</th>
<th>Last Name</th>
<th>Nick Name</th>
<th>Marks</th>
<th>Grade</th>
</tr>
<xsl:for-each select="class/student">
<tr>
<td>
<xsl:value-of select="@rollno"/>
</td>

40
 XPath

<td><xsl:value-of select="firstname"/></td>

<td><xsl:value-of select="lastname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="nickname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="marks"/></td>
<td>
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="marks div 90 > 1">
High
</xsl:when>
<xsl:when test="marks div 80 > 1">
Medium
</xsl:when>
<xsl:otherwise>
Low
</xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>

</td>
</tr>
</xsl:for-each>
</table>
</body>
</html>
</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

41
 XPath

Verify the output

XPath String Functions

The following is a list of XPath String functions:

S.N. Function & Description

starts-with(string1, string2)
1
Returns true when first string starts with the second string.

contains(string1, string2)
2
Returns true when the first string contains the second string.

substring(string, offset, length?)

3 Returns a section of the string. The section starts at offset up to the length
provided.

substring-before(string1, string2)
4
Returns the part of string1 up before the first occurrence of string2.

substring-after(string1, string2)
5
Returns the part of string1 after the first occurrence of string2.

string-length(string)
6
Returns the length of string in terms of characters.

42
 XPath

normalize-space(string)
7
Trims the leading and trailing space from string.

translate(string1, string2, string3)

8 Returns string1 after any matching characters in string2 have been replaced
by the characters in string3.

concat(string1, string2, ...)

9
Concatenates all strings.

format-number(number1, string1, string2)

10 Returns a formatted version of number1 after applying string1 as a format
string. string2 is an optional locale string.

Example
This example creates a table of <student> element with their names and length of names,
by iterating over each student. It calculates length of the student name after concatenating
firstname and lastname and then prints the student(s) details.

students.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="students.xsl"?>
<class>
<student rollno="393">
<firstname>Dinkar</firstname>
<lastname>Kad</lastname>
<nickname>Dinkar</nickname>
<marks>85</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="493">
<firstname>Vaneet</firstname>
<lastname>Gupta</lastname>
<nickname>Vinni</nickname>
<marks>95</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="593">
<firstname>Jasvir</firstname>

43
 XPath

<lastname>Singh</lastname>
<nickname>Jazz</nickname>

<marks>90</marks>
</student>
</class>

students.xsl

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">

<xsl:template match="/">
<html>
<body>
<h2>Students</h2>
<table border="1">
<tr bgcolor="#9acd32">
<th>Name</th>
<th>Length of Name</th>
</tr>
<xsl:for-each select="class/student">
<tr>
<td><xsl:value-of select="concat(firstname,' ',lastname)"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="string-length(concat(firstname,' ',lastname))"/></td>

</tr>
</xsl:for-each>
</table>
</body>
</html>
</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

44
 XPath

Verify the output

XPath Node Functions

XPath defines the following operators on nodes to be used with the XPath expressions.

Operator Description

/ used to select node under a specific node.

// used to select node from root node

[...] used to check node value

| used for union of two node sets

XPath defines the following functions on nodes to be used with the XPath expressions.

Function Description

comment() selects nodes which are comments.

node() selects all kinds of nodes.

processing-instruction() selects nodes which are processing instruction.

45
 XPath

text() selects a text node.

name() provides the name of the node.

position() provides the position of the node.

last() selects the last node relative to current node;

Example
This example creates a table of <student> element with their details, by iterating over
each student. It calculates the position of the student node then prints the student(s)
details along with serial no.

students.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="students.xsl"?>
<class>
<student rollno="393">
<firstname>Dinkar</firstname>
<lastname>Kad</lastname>
<nickname>Dinkar</nickname>
<marks>85</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="493">
<firstname>Vaneet</firstname>
<lastname>Gupta</lastname>
<nickname>Vinni</nickname>
<marks>95</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="593">
<firstname>Jasvir</firstname>
<lastname>Singh</lastname>
<nickname>Jazz</nickname>
<marks>90</marks>
</student>
</class>

students.xsl

46
 XPath

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">

<xsl:template match="/">
<html>
<body>
<h2>Students</h2>
<table border="1">
<tr bgcolor="#9acd32">
<th>Serial No</th>
<th>Roll No</th>
<th>First Name</th>
<th>Last Name</th>
<th>Nick Name</th>
<th>Marks</th>
</tr>
<xsl:for-each select="class/student">
<tr>
<td><xsl:value-of select="position()"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="@rollno"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="firstname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="lastname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="nickname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="marks"/></td>
</tr>
</xsl:for-each>
</table>
</body>
</html>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Verify the output

47
XPath

48
 8. XPath — Wildcard XPath

XPath defines the following wildcards on nodes to be used with the XPath expressions.

Wildcard Description

* used to match any node.

. used to match the current node in context.

@* used to match any attribute

node() used to match node of any type

Example
This example creates a table of <student> element with their details, by iterating over
each student.

students.xml
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="students.xsl"?>
<class>
<student rollno="393">
<firstname>Dinkar</firstname>
<lastname>Kad</lastname>
<nickname>Dinkar</nickname>
<marks>85</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="493">
<firstname>Vaneet</firstname>
<lastname>Gupta</lastname>
<nickname>Vinni</nickname>
<marks>95</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="593">
<firstname>Jasvir</firstname>
<lastname>Singh</lastname>

49
 XPath

<nickname>Jazz</nickname>
<marks>90</marks>
</student>
</class>

students.xsl
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:template match="/">
<html>
<body>
<h2>Students</h2>
<xsl:apply-templates select="class/*" />
</body>
</html>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="class/*">
<xsl:apply-templates select="@rollno" />
<xsl:apply-templates select="firstname" />
<xsl:apply-templates select="lastname" />
<xsl:apply-templates select="nickname" />
<xsl:apply-templates select="marks" />
<br />
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="@rollno">
<span style="font-size=22px;">
<xsl:value-of select="." />
</span>
<br />
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="firstname">
First Name:<span style="color:blue;">

50
 XPath

<xsl:value-of select="." />

</span>
<br />
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="lastname">
Last Name:<span style="color:green;">
<xsl:value-of select="." />
</span>
<br />
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="nickname">
Nick Name:<span style="color:red;">
<xsl:value-of select="." />
</span>
<br />
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="marks">
Marks:<span style="color:gray;">
<xsl:value-of select="." />
</span>
<br />
</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

51
 XPath

Verify the output

52
 9. XPath — Predicate XPath

Predicate refers to the XPath expression written in square brackets. It refers to restrict the
selected nodes in a node set for some condition. For example,

Predicate Description

Select first student element which is child of the class

/class/student[1]
element.

Select last student element which is child of the class

/class/student[last()]
element.

/class/student[@rolllno=493] Select student element with roll no 493.

/class/student[marks>85] Select student element with marks > 85.

Example
This example creates a table of <student> element with their details, by iterating over
each student. It calculates the position of the student node and then prints the student(s)
details along with serial no.

students.xml
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="students.xsl"?>
<class>
<student rollno="393">
<firstname>Dinkar</firstname>
<lastname>Kad</lastname>
<nickname>Dinkar</nickname>
<marks>85</marks>
</student>
<student rollno="493">
<firstname>Vaneet</firstname>
<lastname>Gupta</lastname>
<nickname>Vinni</nickname>
<marks>95</marks>
</student>

53
 XPath

<student rollno="593">
<firstname>Jasvir</firstname>
<lastname>Singh</lastname>
<nickname>Jazz</nickname>
<marks>90</marks>
</student>
</class>

students.xsl
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">

<xsl:template match="/">
<html>
<body>
<h2>Students</h2>
<table border="1">
<tr bgcolor="#9acd32">
<th>Roll No</th>
<th>First Name</th>
<th>Last Name</th>
<th>Nick Name</th>
<th>Marks</th>
</tr>
<xsl:for-each select="/class/student[1]">
<tr>
<td><xsl:value-of select="@rollno"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="firstname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="lastname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="nickname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="marks"/></td>
</tr>
</xsl:for-each>
<xsl:for-each select="/class/student[last()]">
<tr>
<td><xsl:value-of select="@rollno"/></td>

54
 XPath

<td><xsl:value-of select="firstname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="lastname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="nickname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="marks"/></td>
</tr>
</xsl:for-each>

<xsl:for-each select="/class/student[@rollno=493]">
<tr>
<td><xsl:value-of select="@rollno"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="firstname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="lastname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="nickname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="marks"/></td>
</tr>
</xsl:for-each>

<xsl:for-each select="/class/student[marks > 85]">

<tr>
<td><xsl:value-of select="@rollno"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="firstname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="lastname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="nickname"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="marks"/></td>
</tr>
</xsl:for-each>

</table>

</body>
</html>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

55
 XPath

Verify the output

56