What is the correct XPath for choosing attributes that contain “foo”?

190
votes

Given this XML, what XPath returns all elements whose prop attribute contains Foo (the first three nodes):

<bla>
 <a prop="Foo1"/>
 <a prop="Foo2"/>
 <a prop="3Foo"/>
 <a prop="Bar"/>
</bla>
9
xmlxpath
Why is everyone looking at the "prop" attribute? Did I miss something? It just says get the first three nodes. – user4903
Everyone is looking at the prop attribute because that's what was asked. Get all nodes where prop contains "Foo". Add <a prop="Foo5" /> and you will see why it isn't just "the first three nodes".. – erlando
The question in the body is poorly worded, regardless of the title. Can foo really be in any prop attribute, or do you seriously just want the first three nodes? – user4903
Yes, refer to the title please (and feel free to edit). – ripper234
If you need case-insensitive comparison see find-an-element-whose-attribute-contains-a-text-case-insensitively – Michael Freidgeim

9 Answers

331
votes
//a[contains(@prop,'Foo')]

Works if I use this XML to get results back.

<bla>
 <a prop="Foo1">a</a>
 <a prop="Foo2">b</a>
 <a prop="3Foo">c</a>
 <a prop="Bar">a</a>
</bla>

Edit: Another thing to note is that while the XPath above will return the correct answer for that particular xml, if you want to guarantee you only get the "a" elements in element "bla", you should as others have mentioned also use

/bla/a[contains(@prop,'Foo')]

This will search you all "a" elements in your entire xml document, regardless of being nested in a "blah" element

//a[contains(@prop,'Foo')]

I added this for the sake of thoroughness and in the spirit of stackoverflow. :)

29
votes

This XPath will give you all nodes that have attributes containing 'Foo' regardless of node name or attribute name:

//attribute::*[contains(., 'Foo')]/..

Of course, if you're more interested in the contents of the attribute themselves, and not necessarily their parent node, just drop the /..

//attribute::*[contains(., 'Foo')]
16
votes
descendant-or-self::*[contains(@prop,'Foo')]

Or:

/bla/a[contains(@prop,'Foo')]

Or:

/bla/a[position() <= 3]

Dissected:

descendant-or-self::

The Axis - search through every node underneath and the node itself. It is often better to say this than //. I have encountered some implementations where // means anywhere (decendant or self of the root node). The other use the default axis.

* or /bla/a

The Tag - a wildcard match, and /bla/a is an absolute path.

[contains(@prop,'Foo')] or [position() <= 3]

The condition within [ ]. @prop is shorthand for attribute::prop, as attribute is another search axis. Alternatively you can select the first 3 by using the position() function.

6
votes

John C is the closest, but XPath is case sensitive, so the correct XPath would be:

/bla/a[contains(@prop, 'Foo')]
5
votes

If you also need to match the content of the link itself, use text():

//a[contains(@href,"/some_link")][text()="Click here"]

4
votes

Have you tried something like:

//a[contains(@prop, "Foo")]

I've never used the contains function before but suspect that it should work as advertised...

2
votes

/bla/a[contains(@prop, "foo")]

2
votes

try this:

//a[contains(@prop,'foo')]

that should work for any "a" tags in the document

1
votes

For the code above... //*[contains(@prop,'foo')]