book

XPath and XPointer

Name: XPath and XPointer
Author: John Simpson
ISBN: 9780596002916

by John Simpson

July 2002

Intermediate to advanced

208 pages

6h 4m

English

O'Reilly Media, Inc.

Read now

Unlock full access

A Note Regarding Supplemental Files
Preface
Who Should Read This Book?Who Should Not Read This Book?Organization of the BookConventions Used in This BookComments and QuestionsAcknowledgments
1. Introducing XPath and XPointer
1.1. Why XPath and XPointer?1.2. Antecedents/History1.2.1. DSSSL1.2.2. XSL1.2.3. TEI1.2.4. Intermedia1.3. XPath, XPointer, and Other XML-Related Specs1.3.1. Specs Dependent on XPath and XPointer1.4. XPath and XPointer Versus XQuery
2. XPath Basics
2.1. The Node Tree: An Introduction2.2. XPath Expressions2.2.1. Location Steps and Location Paths2.2.2. Expression Syntax2.2.2.1. Tokens2.2.2.2. Delimiters2.2.2.3. Combining tokens and delimiters into complete expressions2.3. XPath Data Types2.3.1. Strings2.3.2. Numeric Values2.3.3. Boolean Values2.4. Nodes and Node-Sets2.4.1. Node Properties2.4.1.1. Node names2.4.1.2. Document order2.4.1.3. Family relationships2.4.2. Node-Sets2.4.3. Node Types2.4.3.1. The root node2.4.3.2. Element nodes2.4.3.3. Attribute nodes2.4.3.4. PI nodes2.4.3.5. Comment nodes2.4.3.6. Text nodes2.4.3.7. Namespace nodes2.4.3.8. XPath node types and the XML Infoset2.5. Node-Set Context2.6. String-Values2.6.1. String-Value of a Node-Set
3. Location Steps and Paths
3.1. XPath Expressions3.1.1. The Filesystem Analogy3.1.2. Points of Similarity, Points of Difference3.2. Location Paths3.2.1. The Importance of Context3.2.2. Absolute Versus Relative Location Paths3.2.3. Compound Location Paths3.3. Location Steps3.3.1. The Big Picture3.3.2. The Node Test3.3.3. The Axis3.3.3.1. Defaults and shortcuts3.3.3.2. Restrictions by context node type3.3.3.3. Axes and efficiency3.3.4. The Predicate3.3.4.1. Nesting predicates3.3.4.2. Compound predicates3.3.4.3. Predicates with a single value and no operator3.3.4.4. Special case: numeric-valued predicates3.3.4.5. “Stacked” predicates3.4. Compound Location Paths Revisited
4. XPath Functions and Numeric Operators
4.1. Introduction to Functions4.1.1. What Functions Do4.1.2. Functions Within Functions4.2. XPath Function Types4.2.1. Node-Set Functions4.2.1.1. last( )4.2.1.2. position( )4.2.1.3. count(nodeset)4.2.1.4. id(anytype)4.2.1.5. id( ) and node-set arguments4.2.1.6. local-name(nodeset?)4.2.1.7. namespace-uri(nodeset?)4.2.1.8. name(nodeset?)4.2.2. String Functions4.2.2.1. string(anytype?)4.2.2.2. concat(string1, string2, ...)4.2.2.3. starts-with(string1, string2)4.2.2.4. contains(string1, string2)4.2.2.5. substring(string, number1, number2?)4.2.2.6. substring-before(string1, string2) and substring-after(string1, string2)4.2.2.7. string-length(string?)4.2.2.8. normalize-space(string?)4.2.2.9. translate(string1, string2, string3)4.2.3. Boolean Functions4.2.3.1. boolean(anytype)4.2.3.2. not(boolean)4.2.3.3. true() and false( )4.2.3.4. lang(string)4.2.4. Numeric Functions4.2.4.1. number(anytype?)4.2.4.2. sum(nodeset)4.2.4.3. floor(number) and ceiling(number)4.2.4.4. round(number)4.3. XPath Numeric Operators4.3.1. div4.3.2. mod
5. XPath in Action
5.1. XPath Visualiser: Some Background5.2. Sample XML Document5.3. General to Specific, Common to Far-Out5.3.1. The Node Test5.3.2. Axes5.3.3. Predicates5.3.4. Functions5.3.5. Sublimely Ridiculous
6. XPath 2.0
6.1. General Goals6.1.1. Simplify Manipulation of XML Schema-Typed Content6.1.2. Simplify Manipulation of String Content6.1.3. Support Related XML Standards6.1.4. Improve Ease of Use6.1.5. Improve Interoperability6.1.6. Improve i18n Support6.1.7. Maintain Backward Compatibility6.1.8. Enable Improved Processor Efficiency6.2. Specific Requirements6.2.1. XPath 2.0 MUSTs6.2.1.1. Express its data model in terms of the XML Infoset (1.1)6.2.1.2. Provide common core syntax and semantics for XSLT and XML Query (1.2)6.2.1.3. Support explicit “for any” and “for all” Boolean operations (1.3)6.2.1.4. Extend the existing set of aggregate functions (1.4)6.2.1.5. Loosen restrictions on location steps (2.1)6.2.1.6. Provide a conditional expression (2.2)6.2.1.7. Define consistent implicit semantics for collection-valued subexpressions (2.3)6.2.1.8. Support string matching with regular expressions (3)6.2.1.9. Define the operator matrix and conversions (4.1)6.2.1.10. Allow scientific notation for numbers (4.2)6.2.1.11. Define cast and constructor functions (4.3)6.2.1.12. Support accessing the simple-type values of elements and attributes (4.5)6.2.1.13. Define the behavior of operators for null arguments (4.6)6.2.2. XPath 2.0 SHOULDs6.2.2.1. Maintain backward compatibility with XPath 1.0 (1.5)6.2.2.2. Provide intersection and difference functions (1.6)6.2.2.3. Support the unary plus operator (1.7)6.2.2.4. Simplify string replacement (2.4.1)6.2.2.5. Simplify string padding (2.4.2)6.2.2.6. Simplify string case conversions (2.4.3)6.2.2.7. Support aggregation functions over collection-valued expressions (2.5)6.2.2.8. Add a “list” data type (4.4)6.2.2.9. Select elements/attributes based on an explicit XML Schema type (5.1)6.2.2.10. Select elements/attributes based on an XML Schema type hierarchy (5.2)6.2.2.11. Select elements based on XML Schema substitution groups (5.3)6.2.2.12. Support lookups based on XML Schema unique constraints and keys (5.4)
7. XPointer Background
7.1. XPointer and Media types7.2. Some Definitions7.2.1. Resource7.2.2. Subresource7.2.3. Location7.2.4. Location-set7.2.5. Point7.2.6. Range7.2.7. Points and Ranges: Flattening the Logical Hierarchy7.3. The Framework7.4. Error Types7.4.1. Syntax Errors7.4.2. Resource Errors7.4.3. Subresource Errors7.5. Encoding and Escaping Characters in XPointer7.5.1. Characters Significant to XPointer Itself7.5.2. URI-Significant Characters7.5.2.1. URIs versus IURIs7.5.3. Characters in XML Documents7.5.4. Progressive Escaping7.5.4.1. Progressive escaping: a (perverse) example
8. XPointer Syntax
8.1. Shorthand Pointers8.2. Scheme-Based XPointer Syntax8.2.1. The Scheme8.2.2. The schemedata8.2.3. Contents of the xmlns() Scheme8.2.4. Contents of the element( ) Scheme8.2.5. Combining Names and Child Sequences8.2.6. Contents of the xpointer( ) Scheme8.2.7. Custom Schemes8.2.8. Multiple Pointer Parts8.2.8.1. “Failure-proofing” XPointers8.2.8.2. Declaring and using namespaces8.2.8.3. Mixing it up8.3. Using XPointers in a URI

9. XPointer Beyond XPath
9.1. Why Extend XPath?9.2. Points and Ranges9.2.1. Points9.2.1.1. Node points versus character points9.2.1.2. Point syntax9.2.1.3. Points as “nodes”9.2.1.4. Points and general entities9.2.2. Ranges9.2.2.1. What can be in a range9.2.2.2. Range syntax9.2.2.3. Ranges as “nodes”9.2.2.4. Covering ranges9.3. XPointer Extensions to Document Order9.3.1. XPointer Document Order Extensions: Examples9.4. XPointer Functions9.4.1. start-point(locset)9.4.2. end-point(locset)9.4.3. range-to(locset)9.4.4. string-range(locset, string, number1?, number2?)9.4.5. range(locset)9.4.6. range-inside(locset)9.4.7. here( )9.4.8. origin( )
A. Extension Functions for XPath in XSLT
A.1. Additional Functions in XSLT 1.0A.2. EXSLT ExtensionsA.2.1. EXSLT Functions ModuleA.2.2. EXSLT Dates-and-Times ModuleA.2.3. EXSLT Dynamic ModuleA.2.4. EXSLT Common ModuleA.2.5. EXSLT Math ModuleA.2.6. EXSLT Regular Expressions ModuleA.2.7. EXSLT Sets ModuleA.2.8. EXSLT Strings Module
Colophon
Copyright

Content preview from XPath and XPointer

Appendix A. Extension Functions for XPath in XSLT

While XPath includes a powerful set of basic functions, some applications of XPath need to support capabilities that go beyond that core. Currently, the most widely used XPath-based application is, of course, XSLT; aside from proprietary extensions offered through the various XSLT processors, it acquires these extra capabilities by way of two commonly used sets of extension functions. (Don’t count on their availability in other XPath-based contexts, although because of their usefulness they may be adopted elsewhere as well.)

The first set of functions comes from XSLT itself, providing access to path, node, and string-value handling facilities necessary for XSLT processing. The second set of functions comes from the independent Extensions to XSLT (EXSLT) project, providing support for a variety of tasks that weren’t addressed in either XPath 1.0 or XSLT 1.0.

Additional Functions in XSLT 1.0

When XPath and XSLT were separated into two specifications, it was clear that there were some functions that relied on information available only through an understanding of the current XSLT processing context. These functions were kept in XSLT rather than in XPath, and (to repeat) may or may not be available in XPath processing in other contexts. You will see these functions used frequently in XSLT processing. Table A-1 lists the additional functions provided by XSLT 1.0.

Table A-1. Additional functions provided by XSLT 1.0

Function prototype ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.

Read now

Unlock full access

More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly

O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.

Julian F.

Head of Cybersecurity

I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.

Addison B.

Field Engineer

I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.

Amir M.

Data Platform Tech Lead

I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.

Mark W.

Embedded Software Engineer

XPath: Navigating XML with XPath 1.0 and 2.0 Kick Start

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 0596002912Errata Page

Cloud Computing

Data Engineering

Data Science

AI & ML

Programming Languages

Software Architecture

IT/Ops

Security

Design

Business

Soft Skills

XPath and XPointer

by John Simpson

Appendix A. Extension Functions for XPath in XSLT

Additional Functions in XSLT 1.0

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.