| special character | meaning |
|---|---|
| * | all direct children |
| // | all descents |
| . | current node |
| .. | parent node |
| @name | select attribute name |
| @* | select all attributes |
| [n] | Nth node of nodelist, array getItem |
| [filter expression] | filter |
| [@name="somevalue] | select node with certain attribute |
<table name="Person">
<column name="id" type="long">
<filter> max < 100</filter>
</column>
<column name="title" type="string" max="50">
<pattern> [a-z]{1,6} </pattern>
</column>
<column name="createDate" type="date">
<filter> count < 10</filter>
</column>
</table>
| xpath expression | result | explain |
|---|---|---|
| . | table node | current node |
| .//column | all 3 "column" nodes | all descent nodes of "column" |
| * | the root "table" | select all elements of the context node |
| table/* | all 3 "column" nodes | select all child nodes of "table" node |
| table/*[1] | the first "column" node | select the first node of all children nodes of "table" |