XML XPath value extractor
Test an XPath on your file before using it in code or in a scraping or import tool.
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Processing and privacy: The result is calculated inside your browser and your data is not sent to any server.
How to use it
- Enter xml text and xpath expression.
- The result appears straight away and updates as you edit.
- Copy the result, or copy a link that keeps the same values to share it.
How it is calculated
A subset of XPath 1.0: / for children and // for all descendants, an element name or *, predicates [n], [last()], [@attr], [@attr="v"] and [child="v"], and at the end @attr, @* or text(). An element value is its full text with spaces collapsed. [n] applies per parent, as in XPath.
Example
Inputs: XPath expression = /catalog/book/title. Result: Matching values: مقدمة ابن خلدون Arabian Sands; Matches: 2.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<catalog>
<book id="1" lang="ar">
<title>مقدمة ابن خلدون</title>
<author>ابن خلدون</author>
<price>45</price>
</book>
<book id="2" lang="en">
<title>Arabian Sands</title>
<author>Wilfred Thesiger</author>
<price>60</price>
</book>
</catalog>مقدمة ابن خلدون Arabian Sands
Limits and caveats
- Functions such as contains() and count(), axes such as parent:: and and/or operators are not supported.
- Prefixes such as ns:tag match literally, without namespace binding.
- text() skips whitespace-only text nodes.
Questions about this tool
What is the difference between / and //?
A single slash steps to direct children only, a double slash searches every level below the current point.
Why does //*[2] return several results?
Because [2] means the second child within each parent separately, so every parent with two or more children contributes one, as standard XPath does.
How do I read an attribute value?
End the path with @ and the attribute name, such as //book/@id for every id, or @* for all attributes.