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How do I test XPath expressions against XML online?

Paste your XML into the editor, type an XPath expression like //book[@category='programming']/title, and click Evaluate to see matching nodes instantly. The tool supports element selection, attribute filtering, axes (ancestor, descendant, sibling), and XPath functions (count, contains, starts-with). Click any example query button to try common patterns. Everything runs in your browser using the native XPath 1.0 engine — no data is sent to a server.

Select elements by path
Input
XPath: //book/title
XML:
<library>
  <book>
    <title>Clean Code</title>
  </book>
  <book>
    <title>Refactoring</title>
  </book>
</library>
Output
Found 2 nodes:
1. <title>Clean Code</title>
2. <title>Refactoring</title>

Type: Element nodes
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XPath Tester

Test XPath expressions against XML data with real-time evaluation. Extract elements, filter by attributes, and navigate XML document structures.

XPath Reference
ExpressionDescription
/Root element
//elementAll matching elements anywhere
./childDirect child of context
@attrAttribute value
[1]First element (1-indexed)
[last()]Last element
[position()<3]First two elements
[@attr='val']Filter by attribute
[contains(., 'text')]Contains text
[starts-with(@id, 'x')]Starts with
text()Text content
node()Any node
count(//el)Count elements
sum(//el)Sum of numeric values
string-length(//el)String length
ancestor::elAncestor axis
descendant::elDescendant axis
following-sibling::elFollowing siblings
parent::elParent axis
el1 | el2Union of two node sets
About XPath

XPath (XML Path Language) is a query language for selecting nodes from XML documents. It uses path expressions to navigate through elements, attributes, and text in an XML tree structure.

Key concepts:
  • Nodes — elements, attributes, text, comments, and the document itself
  • Axes — define the direction of navigation (child, parent, ancestor, descendant, sibling)
  • Predicates — filter nodes with conditions inside square brackets
  • Functions — built-in string, number, and node functions (contains, count, sum, etc.)

XPath is used in XSLT, XQuery, web scraping (Selenium, Puppeteer), configuration parsing, and XML data extraction. This tool uses your browser's built-in XPath 1.0 engine — no data is sent over the network.

Tips & Best Practices

Pro Tip

Use // for deep search, / for direct children only

`//title` finds all title elements anywhere in the document. `/html/head/title` only matches the exact path. Start with // to explore, then tighten to / for precision. // is slower on large documents because it searches the entire tree.

Common Pitfall

XPath 1.0 has no regex support — use contains() and starts-with()

Browser-native XPath is version 1.0, which lacks regex. For pattern matching, chain string functions: `//a[contains(@href, 'example') and starts-with(@class, 'nav')]`. XPath 2.0+ has matches() with regex, but browsers don't support it natively.

Real-World Example

Select elements by text content with text() and contains()

`//button[text()='Submit']` matches exact text. `//button[contains(text(), 'Sign')]` matches partial text like 'Sign In', 'Sign Up', 'Sign Out'. Use normalize-space() to handle whitespace: `//p[normalize-space()='Hello World']`.

Security Note

User-supplied XPath can enable injection in server-side queries

If you build XPath queries from user input without sanitization, attackers can inject expressions to extract data. `//user[name='admin' or '1'='1']` bypasses authentication. Always parameterize or sanitize XPath inputs on the server side.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is XPath and how does it work?
XPath (XML Path Language) is a query language for selecting nodes from XML documents. It uses path expressions — similar to file system paths — to navigate through the hierarchical tree structure of an XML document. XPath 1.0 is built into every modern browser and supports selecting elements, attributes, text nodes, and computing values with built-in functions like count(), contains(), and string-length(). XPath is used in XSLT transformations, XQuery, web scraping tools (Selenium, Puppeteer), and XML configuration parsing.
What is the difference between XPath and JSONPath?
XPath queries XML documents while JSONPath queries JSON data. XPath is a W3C standard with a formal specification, supports axes (ancestor, descendant, sibling), has built-in functions (count, sum, contains, string-length), and can select attributes with @. JSONPath is loosely modeled after XPath but has no formal standard — it uses $ for root (vs / in XPath), .. for recursive descent (vs // in XPath), and [?(@.field)] for filters (vs [@attr] in XPath). XPath is more powerful but only works with XML; JSONPath is simpler but limited to JSON structures.
How do I select elements by attribute value in XPath?
Use square bracket predicates with the @ symbol: //element[@attribute='value'] selects all elements with that attribute value. You can also use functions: //element[contains(@class, 'active')] for partial matches, //element[starts-with(@id, 'item-')] for prefix matches, and //element[@count > 5] for numeric comparisons. Multiple predicates can be chained: //book[@category='fiction'][@lang='en']. To select the attribute itself rather than the element, use //element/@attribute.
Is it safe to paste XML data into this tool?
Yes. This XPath tester runs entirely in your browser using the built-in DOMParser and document.evaluate() APIs. Your XML data is never sent to any server — all parsing and XPath evaluation happens client-side in JavaScript. You can verify this by opening your browser's Network tab and confirming no requests are made when you evaluate expressions. This makes it safe for testing XPath queries against XML that contains API responses, configuration files, or other sensitive data.

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