This tutorial will clarify various methods for selecting elements and data within XML or HTML documents. I’ve included for you the explanations and examples of standard XPath methods.

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Node Selection

Node selection in XPath refers to choosing specific elements, attributes, or nodes within an XML or HTML document based on their type or location in the document’s hierarchy.

//img

Attribute Selection

Attribute selection in XPath involves choosing elements within an XML or HTML document based on their attributes’ values.

//*[@id = 'gridItemRoot']

Predicate Filtering

Predicate filtering in XPath applies conditions or filters to select specific elements or nodes based on certain criteria. Use conditions inside square brackets to filter elements.

//span[contains(@class, 'sc-price') and number(translate(., '$', '')) < 10.00]

Positional Selection

Positional selection in XPath involves choosing elements within an XML or HTML document based on their position or index in its structure.

//*[@id = 'gridItemRoot'][4]

Text Content Selection

Text content selection in XPath refers to choosing elements within an XML or HTML document based on the textual content contained within those elements.

//*[text()='The 48 Laws of Power']

Logical Operators

Logical operators in XPath are used to combine or modify conditions within an XPath expression to make more complex selections.

//div[@id='gridItemRoot' and //*[contains(@class, 'a-icon-star-small')] and .//span[contains(@class, 'sc-price') and number(translate(., '$', '')) < 10.00]]

Axis Selection

Axis selection in XPath involves navigating the document’s hierarchy based on the relationships between elements and nodes, allowing you to select elements related to a specific context node.

Parent Selection

The “parent” XPath is used to select the parent element of a given element. It allows you to navigate the document’s hierarchy to access a specific node's immediate or nearest enclosing parent element.

//li[contains(.//span, 'Comics & Graphic Novels')]/parent::*
or
//li[contains(.//span, 'Comics & Graphic Novels')]/..

Preceding Sibling Selection

Preceding sibling selection in XPath allows you to select elements that are siblings of a given context node and appear before it in the document’s hierarchy.

//li[contains(.//span, 'Comics & Graphic Novels')]/preceding-sibling::*

Following Sibling Selection

Following sibling selection in XPath allows you to select elements that are siblings of a given context node and appear after it in the document’s hierarchy.

//li[contains(.//span, 'Comics & Graphic Novels')]/following-sibling::*

Child Selection

Child selection in XPath involves selecting elements that are direct children of a given parent element or context node within the XML or HTML document.

//li[contains(.//span, 'Comics & Graphic Novels')]/../child::*

Wildcards

Wildcard selection in XPath involves using wildcard symbols to match elements or attributes regardless of their specific names or values.

//*

Functions

Functions in XPath are predefined operations or calculations that you can use within an XPath expression to manipulate or evaluate nodes, attributes, or values in XML or HTML documents.

//*[@class = 'a-size-small']//child::*[starts-with(text(), 'It')]

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These methods offer versatile ways to locate specific elements, attributes, or data within XML and HTML documents, making XPath a powerful tool for tasks such as web scraping, data extraction, and test automation.