Simplified XPath Syntax
When using an XPath expression to generate records from an XML document, use a simplified version of the abbreviated XPath syntax.
Use the abbreviated XPath syntax with the following restrictions:
- Operators and XPath functions
- Do not use operators or XPath functions in the XPath expression.
- Axis selectors
- Use only the single slash ( / ) child selector. The descendant-or-self double slash selector ( // ) is not supported.
- Node tests
- Only node name tests are supported. Note the following details:
- You can use namespaces with node names, defined with an XPath namespace prefix. For more information, see Using XPath Expressions with Namespaces.
- Do not use namespaces for attributes.
- Elements can include predicates.
- Predicates
- You can use the position predicate or attribute value predicate with elements, not both.
-
Use the following syntax to specify a position predicate:
/<element>[<position number>] -
Use the following syntax to specify an attribute value predicate:
/<element>[@<attribute name>='<attribute value>'] - You can use the asterisk wildcard as the attribute value. Surround the value in single quotation marks.
- Wildcard character
- You can use the asterisk ( * ) to represent a single element, as
follows:
/root/*/msg