Getting elements with default namespace (no namespace prefix) using XPath

Question

In this SOAP XML file, how can I get the 7 on a using a XPath query?

<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope"
                            xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
                            xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
    <soap:Body>
        <HelloWorldResponse xmlns="http://tempuri.org/">
           <HelloWorldResult>7</HelloWorldResult>
        </HelloWorldResponse>
    </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

This XPath query is not working //*[name () ='soap:Body'].

Carrew

what are you trying to extract? – Erythrite

missing < . but is not the problem. i want number 7 – Carrew

Answer 1

If you have a namespace prefix set, you could use it, like:

//soap:Body

But since the nodes you are trying to get use a default namespace, without a prefix, using plain XPath, you can only acesss them by the local-name() and namespace-uri() attributes. Examples:

//*[local-name()="HelloWorldResult"]/text()

Or:

//*[local-name()="HelloWorldResult" and namespace-uri()='http://tempuri.org/']/text()

Or:

//*[local-name()="HelloWorldResponse" and namespace-uri()='http://tempuri.org/']/*[local-name()="HelloWorldResult"]/text()

To your xml, they will all give the same result, the text 7.

Ascend

Note: If you were using a tool to execute the XPath, you could specify the namespace for that query and proceed as usual (without the workarounds above). Needless to say, each tool has a specific way of setting that. – Ascend

Does this syntax only work if the node with xmlns="whatever" is the last node? I've tried this repeated times today and can't get it to work. – Loretaloretta

@Kyralessa, no, it should work wherever the node is. Maybe it is your tool. Try it online, see how it works here: goo.gl/HJMcgM – Ascend

I figured out my problem. I had to use the alias all the way down: root/abc:nodeWithXmlns/abc:thisOne/abc:theOneIWant – Loretaloretta

@Kyralessa Yes, in some tools, that'd work. Great, then! – Ascend