XPath Tester

About the XPath Tester

XPath Tester evaluates XPath 1.0 expressions against XML you paste. The XML is parsed into a separate in-memory document by the browser’s XML parser and queried with the browser’s own XPath engine — it is never added to the page. You see the result type (node-set, string, number or boolean), the number of matching nodes, each node’s kind and path, and the selected XML or text, which you can copy or download.

For namespaced XML, add prefix and URI rows and use the prefixes in your expression; XPath 1.0 has no default namespace, so even a default xmlns needs a prefix. DOCTYPE declarations, entity declarations and processing instructions are refused before parsing, and size, depth, element and result limits keep large documents manageable. The tool works only on pasted XML: it cannot fetch or test a live web page or XML endpoint.

How to use

1. Paste XML into the box.
2. Enter an XPath 1.0 expression.
3. Add namespace prefix mappings if the XML uses namespaces.
4. Press Run XPath (or Enter).
5. Review the results, then copy or download them.

Key features

• Browser XPath 1.0 engine on an isolated document.
• Editable namespace prefix and URI rows.
• Node-set, string, number and boolean results.
• Node kind, path and serialised XML or text.
• Hostile XML (DOCTYPE, entities, PIs) refused.
• Clear errors for malformed XML or XPath.
• Copy Results and Download Results.

Best practices

• Map a prefix for every namespace you query, including the default one.
• Use predicates such as [@id='1'] to narrow node-sets.
• Use string(), count() or boolean() for single values.
• Remove DOCTYPE lines before pasting; they are not needed for XPath.
• Test with representative samples before using an expression in code.

Benefits

• Quick feedback while writing XPath for scrapers, tests or XSLT.
• Safe handling of untrusted XML.
• Paths make it easy to see where each match lives.
• Private: nothing is uploaded or stored.

Frequently asked questions