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xpathelementname

Getting element's name in XPATH

If I selected an element using XPATH how can I get its name?
I mean something like text() function in //element/[@id=elid]/text().

Solution

  • Use name(). (Find docs for newer versions of the XPath language here.)

    Here are modified versions of your example:

    Works in XPath 2.0+ only:

    //element/*[@id='elid']/name()

    Works in XPath 1.0 and 2.0+*:

    name(//element/*[@id='elid'])

    *If using 2.0+, the expression //element/*[@id='elid'] must only return one element. Otherwise you'll get an error like A sequence of more than one item is not allowed as the first argument of fn:name()

    You could also use local-name() which returns the local part of the expanded name (without any namespace prefix).