CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javaxmlseleniumxpath
user3561614
user3561614

Reputation: 1094

XML child position vs document position in XPath

I have something like this (with many more elements in root):

<root>
<a>
    <b></b>
</a>
<a>
    <b></b>
</a>
</root>

I would like to find the b node at position i. What I tried is something like:

findElement(By.xpath("root//b[" + i + "]"));

But this method to find nodes by position seems not to work with // before. How can I find my node?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 391

Answers (1)

kjhughes
kjhughes

Reputation: 111620

Note the difference between:

  • //b[1], which selects all b elements that are first among b element siblings because [1] binds more tightly than //.
  • (//b)[1], which selects the first b element among all b elements in the document.

So, if you want the ith b element in the document, use

findElement(By.xpath("(//b)[" + i + "]"));

You can, of course, limit the scope to parts of the document by preceding the b step with other steps higher in the hierarchy.

Upvotes: 4

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