XPATH path expressions are used to refer to specific nodes or values in an XML document.
The XPATH expression syntax appears much like a file system path to address the hierarchical nature of an XML document.
The following are common path expressions to use:
| Path Expression | Description |
| nodename | Selects a node and all of its children |
| / | Selects the document root |
| // | Selects a node and all of its children; regardless of where it is located in the XML document hierarchy. The use of this path expression can kill performance in large documents – the parser looks at every node. Give the parser some hints by narrowing the search; try to use specific paths or wildcards. |
| . | Selects the current node |
| .. | Selects the parent node in relation to the current node. |
| @ | Selects an attribute |
Combining path expressions with wildcards and XPATH functions offers a robust method to reference nodes/values in an XML document.
The following examples shows how to use the path expressions in a meaningful way: