XPath operator
node() test
Matches every node kind on an axis: elements, text, comments, processing instructions, and the root node.
node() is the broadest node test. On the child axis it selects every child node, including indentation whitespace, comments, and processing instructions that * does not select.
It appears inside the definition of //: /descendant-or-self::node()/. That is why // can bridge any number of element levels without naming them.
- Syntax
axis::node()- Returns
- node-set
- Kind
- Operator
- 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.
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.
<?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
- text() node testSelects text-node children, including indentation whitespace as well as the words a reader sees.
- comment() node testSelects XML comment nodes. Their delimiters are syntax; the node's string-value is only the content between them.
- processing-instruction() node testSelects processing instructions, optionally restricted to one target such as xml-stylesheet.
- Path steps / and //A single slash is one level; a double slash is any depth. A leading slash makes the whole path absolute.
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