SelectSingleNode

CompositeNode.SelectSingleNode method

Selects the first Node that matches the XPath expression.

public Node SelectSingleNode(string xpath)
ParameterTypeDescription
xpathStringThe XPath expression.

Return Value

The first Node that matches the XPath query or null if no matching node is found.

Remarks

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

Examples

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.SelectNodes