find xpath element using a variable

Question

im looking to find an element in a schema based on the value of a variable (that changes each time i iterate). the catch is the element could be anywhere inside the schema.

for instance:

<...
  <foo>
    <bar>
       <bar1>BB</bar1>
       <bar2>CC</bar2>
    </bar>
    <rab>
       <rab1>DD</rab1> 
    </rab>
  </foo>
/...>

$attribute = bar1 (then the next iteration, $attribute may equal rab1)

how would i write an expression that could find me: .../foo/bar/$attribute

the closest thing i can find is ...//*[name()=$attribute] but it doesn't work. is there any other way?

Thanks for your help!

"Doesn't work" is too vague. Does it throw an error? Does it return no nodes, when there are nodes it should return? — LarsH
– LarsH, Commented Aug 18, 2011 at 14:27

LarsH · Accepted Answer · 2011-08-18 14:31:34Z

3

Although the question leaves out a lot of details that may be important, you could try changing name() to local-name():

...//*[local-name()='bar1']

and see if that fixes the problem. The return value of name() includes any prefix the element name has, which could cause it not to match the value of $attribute. (@Kirill was hinting at this.)

If that doesn't solve the problem, provide more context: What is the full XPath expression? How is it being used in XSLT? How do you know it "doesn't work"? (Give expected results and actual results.)

answered Aug 18, 2011 at 14:31

LarsH

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3 Comments

David Over a year ago

thanks for all your help. when i did //*[local-name()=string($attribute)] it worked

LarsH Over a year ago

@David: I wonder if the $attribute variable contains something other than a string. I don't think that would make a difference, but it's hard to say, without knowing what unexpected behavior was occurring.

LarsH Over a year ago

@David you can "accept" this answer since it solved your problem.

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