XSLT and XPATH: A Guide to XML Transformations

4.1. XPath Syntax and Terminology

XPath provides a common syntax and semantics for addressing nodes in an XML document, and is used by both the XSLT specification and XPointer.^[1] XPath was given its name to reflect its primary style of notation syntax, the path. This path reflects the same functionality as that of the URL, for instance. While the URL indicates a path to where a particular file is located, XPath indicates the particular path, based on the logical structure of an XML document, of where a given node is located. Paths are what the XSLT processor traverses in the course of matching, selecting, transforming, manipulating, and counting nodes. The paths are a form of expressions, which are the fundamental construct in which XPath manifests ...