Skip to main content

Search 400 pages — tools, formats, elements, namespaces, directory, comparisons, XPath, datatypes, glossary, parse errors, schema errors, use cases, guides, blog and product.

XPath axe

preceding:: axis

Every node before the context node's opening tag, excluding its ancestors. A reverse axis, so [1] means nearest.

preceding:: selects nodes that end before the context node begins. It crosses parent boundaries but excludes ancestors, which contain the context rather than preceding it.

It is a reverse axis. A positional predicate attached directly to it counts from the context backwards; parentheses turn the result into document order before a later predicate runs.

Syntax
preceding::name
Returns
node-set
Kind
Axe
Version
XPath 1.0 (libxml2)

Worked examples

Each result below is what the evaluator returned, asserted on every test run. An empty result means an empty node-set — which is an answer, not an error.

  • count(/order/note/preceding::line)on order.xmlRun
    3
  • /order/note/preceding::line[1]/@skuon order.xmlRun
     sku="GIFT-WRAP"

    [1] on the reverse axis selects the nearest preceding line.

  • (/order/note/preceding::line)[1]/@skuon order.xmlRun
     sku="WIDGET-1"

    Parentheses materialize the set in document order, so [1] now means the earliest line.

Run your own expression

What catches people out

  • preceding::*[1] is the nearest preceding element, while (preceding::*)[1] is the earliest in document order.
  • Ancestors are excluded. Use ancestor:: when you need containing elements.
  • preceding-sibling:: is more precise when you know the nodes share a parent.

The sample documents

Every example on this page runs against this document. The sitemap one is namespaced on purpose — almost every real XML document is, and that changes which expressions match.

order.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<order id="A-1001" tier="gold">
  <customer country="NO">Ada Lovelace</customer>
  <!-- priority customer -->
  <?audit retained?>
  <lines>
    <line sku="WIDGET-1" qty="2"><price>14.50</price></line>
    <line sku="WIDGET-2" qty="1"><price>39.00</price></line>
    <line sku="GIFT-WRAP" qty="1"><price>0.00</price></line>
  </lines>
  <note>  Deliver after 09:00  </note>
</order>

Related

All 40 XPath entries

Get started

Bring order to the XML your team can't afford to ignore.

Create a free account and get a private workspace to search, validate, diff, and monitor your XML feeds, sitemaps, schemas, and vendor integrations.

Get started freeSign in