Web/API/XPathExpression

This interface is a compiled XPath expression that can be evaluated on a document or specific node to return information from its [[../../../Glossary/DOM|DOM]] tree. This is useful when an expression will be reused in an application, because it is just compiled once and all namespace prefixes which occur within the expression are preresolved.

Objects of this type are created by calling XPathEvaluator.createExpression().

Methods

XPathExpression.evaluate(): Evaluates the XPath expression on the given node or document.

Example

The following example shows the use of the XPathExpression interface.

HTML

<div>XPath example</div>
<div>Number of &lt;div&gt;s: <output></output></div>

JavaScript

var xpath = "//div";
var evaluator = new XPathEvaluator();
var expression = evaluator.createExpression(xpath);
var result = expression.evaluate(document, XPathResult.ORDERED_NODE_SNAPSHOT_TYPE);
document.querySelector("output").textContent = result.snapshotLength;

Result

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 XPath SpecificationThe definition of 'XPathExpression' in that specification.	Recommendation	Initial definition

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
`XPathExpression`	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support Yes	IE No support No	Opera Full support Yes	Safari ?	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS ?	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes
`evaluate`	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support Yes	IE No support No	Opera Full support Yes	Safari ?	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS ?	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support
Compatibility unknown: Compatibility unknown