SelectNodes

CompositeNode.SelectNodes method

Selects a list of nodes matching the XPath expression.

public NodeList SelectNodes(string xpath)
ParameterTypeDescription
xpathStringThe XPath expression.

Return Value

A list of nodes matching the XPath query.

Remarks

Only expressions with element names are supported at the moment. Expressions that use attribute names are not supported.

Examples

Shows how to use an XPath expression to test whether a node is inside a field.

Document doc = new Document(MyDir + "Mail merge destination - Northwind employees.docx");

// The NodeList that results from this XPath expression will contain all nodes we find inside a field.
// However, FieldStart and FieldEnd nodes can be on the list if there are nested fields in the path.
// Currently does not find rare fields in which the FieldCode or FieldResult spans across multiple paragraphs.
NodeList resultList =
    doc.SelectNodes("//FieldStart/following-sibling::node()[following-sibling::FieldEnd]");

// Check if the specified run is one of the nodes that are inside the field.
Console.WriteLine($"Contents of the first Run node that's part of a field: {resultList.First(n => n.NodeType == NodeType.Run).GetText().Trim()}");

Shows how to select certain nodes by using an XPath expression.

Document doc = new Document(MyDir + "Tables.docx");

// This expression will extract all paragraph nodes,
// which are descendants of any table node in the document.
NodeList nodeList = doc.SelectNodes("//Table//Paragraph");

// Iterate through the list with an enumerator and print the contents of every paragraph in each cell of the table.
int index = 0;

using (IEnumerator<Node> e = nodeList.GetEnumerator())
    while (e.MoveNext())
        Console.WriteLine($"Table paragraph index {index++}, contents: \"{e.Current.GetText().Trim()}\"");

// This expression will select any paragraphs that are direct children of any Body node in the document.
nodeList = doc.SelectNodes("//Body/Paragraph");

// We can treat the list as an array.
Assert.AreEqual(4, nodeList.ToArray().Length);

// Use SelectSingleNode to select the first result of the same expression as above.
Node node = doc.SelectSingleNode("//Body/Paragraph");

Assert.AreEqual(typeof(Paragraph), node.GetType());

See Also

CompositeNode.RemoveSmartTags CompositeNode.SelectSingleNode