Examples of XPath Expression Results

Table 66 provides examples of XPath expression results:

Table 66. XPath Expression Results
Expression	Result
`/a`	Returns the document element of the document if it is an `a` element
`/a/b`	Returns all `b` elements that are immediate children of the document element, which is the `a` element
`//a`	Returns all `a` elements in the document
`//a/b`	Returns all `b` elements that are immediate children of `a` elements that are anywhere in the document
`a or ./a`	Returns all `a` elements that are immediate children of the context node
`a/b`	Returns all `b` elements that are immediate children of `a` elements that are immediate children of the context node
`a//b`	Returns all `b` elements that descend from `a` elements that are immediate children of the context node
`.//a`	Returns all `a` elements in the document tree branch that starts with the context node
`../a`	Returns all `a` elements in the document tree branch that are children of the parent node of the context node.