Is it possible to use attributes when accessing XML nodes using dot-notation?

Question

PowerShell has dot syntax for accessing some XML nodes:

root.object1.object2

Is it possible to do something like this?

root.object1.object2[@id="pdt1"]

except this syntax doesn't work.

Does this kind of syntax exist or is it mandatory to use SelectNodes() method?

You can use Where-Object: root.object1.object2|? id -eq pdt1. — user4003407
– user4003407, Commented Aug 16, 2015 at 8:45

Ansgar Wiechers · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-16 09:54:22Z

6

No, you can't mix object and XPath syntax like that. Either use XPath:

$xml.SelectSingleNode('/root/object1/object2[@id="pdt1"]')

or use object syntax with a Where-Object filter (as suggested by @PetSerAl in the comments to your question):

$xml.root.object1.object2 | Where-Object { $_.id -eq 'pdt1' }

answered Aug 16, 2015 at 9:54

Ansgar Wiechers

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1 Comment

I didn't know about Where-Object thanks. I wish they'll add the more natural syntax in the future.