BYTETOOLS

XPath Tester

Test XPath 1.0 expressions against your XML online. See every matched node with its full path, plus the result type and match count, privately.

Drop an .xml file here or click to browse

What is the XPath Tester?

The ByteTools XPath Tester runs an XPath 1. 0 expression against pasted XML using your browser's own XPath engine.

  • Native XPath 1.0 evaluation via document.evaluate
  • Shows node-set, string, number and boolean result types
  • Full element path with positional predicates for every match
  • Auto-binds xmlns prefixes declared on the root element
  • Clear messages for malformed XML and invalid expressions
  • 100% in-browser — no XML is uploaded

How to use the XPath Tester

  1. 1

    Paste your XML into the document box, or drop an .xml file onto the drop zone.

  2. 2

    Type an XPath expression such as //book[@lang='en']/title.

  3. 3

    Add any prefix=uri namespace bindings, one per line, or leave auto-binding on.

  4. 4

    Click Run XPath and review the result type, match count and each matched node's path and markup.

About the XPath Tester

The ByteTools XPath Tester runs an XPath 1.0 expression against pasted XML using your browser's own XPath engine. It reports the result type — node-set, string, number or boolean — lists every matched node with its serialised markup and a full element path like /catalog/book[2]/title, and counts the matches.

Namespaces are the usual reason an expression returns nothing, so prefixes declared on the root element are bound automatically and you can add your own prefix=uri bindings a line at a time. Malformed XML is reported with the browser parser's own message instead of failing silently.

Everything runs 100% locally in your browser. Your XML is never uploaded or stored, so you can test selectors against SOAP responses, RSS feeds, sitemaps and internal data exports without any of it leaving your machine.

Frequently asked questions

How do I test an XPath expression?

Paste your XML, type the expression in the XPath box and click Run XPath. Every matched node is listed with its path and markup, and the result type and match count appear above the list.

Why does my XPath return zero matches on a namespaced document?

XPath 1.0 has no concept of a default namespace, so //book will not match an element in one. Bind a prefix in the namespace box, for example ns=http://example.com/schema, then write //ns:book instead.

Which XPath version does this support?

XPath 1.0, because that is what browsers implement natively. Functions such as contains(), starts-with(), text(), last() and position() all work; XPath 2.0 and 3.1 additions do not.

Can I select attributes as well as elements?

Yes. An expression such as //book/@id returns the attribute nodes, and each result is shown as name="value" with a path ending in /@id so you can see exactly which element it came from.

Is my XML uploaded to a server?

No. Both the parsing and the XPath evaluation happen in your browser, so the document is never transmitted or stored. That makes the tool safe for API responses and internal data exports.

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