• Chapter 1: Getting Started with Stylus Studio®
• Chapter 2: Editing and Querying XML
• Chapter 3: Converting Non-XML Files to XML
• Chapter 4: Working with XSLT
• Chapter 5: Creating XSLT Using the XSLT Mapper
• Chapter 6: Debugging Stylesheets
• Chapter 7: Defining XML Schemas
• Chapter 8: Defining Document Type Definitions
• Chapter 9: Writing XPath Expressions
  • About the XPath Processor
  • Using the XPath Query Editor
  • Sample Data for Examples and Practice
  • Getting Started with Queries
  • Specifying the Nodes to Evaluate
    • Understanding XPath Processor Terms
    • Starting at the Context Node
    • About Root Nodes and Document Elements
    • Starting at the Root Node
    • Descending Along Branches
    • Explicitly Specifying the Current Context
    • Specifying Children or Descendants of Parent Nodes
    • Examples of XPath Expression Results
    • Syntax for Specifying an Axis in a Query
    • Supported Axes
    • Axes That Represent the Whole XML Document
  • Handling Strings and Text
  • Specifying Boolean Expressions and Functions
  • Specifying Number Operations and Functions
  • Comparing Values
  • Finding a Particular Node
  • Obtaining a Union
  • Obtaining Information About a Node or a Node Set
  • Using XPath Expressions in Stylesheets
  • Accessing Other Documents During Query Execution
  • XPath Quick Reference
• Chapter 10: Working with XQuery in Stylus Studio
• Chapter 11: Composing Web Service Calls
• Chapter 12: Accessing Relational Data as XML
• Chapter 13: Integrating with Third-Party File Systems
• Chapter 14: Extending Stylus Studio
• Chapter 15: The Stylus Studio Java API
• Chapter 16: Stylus Studio GUI Reference

Home > Online Product Documentation > Table of Contents > Starting at the Root Node

Starting at the Root Node

To specify that the XPath processor should start at the root node when it evaluates nodes for a query, insert a forward slash ( /) at the beginning of the query.

In an XML document, there is no text that corresponds to the root node. Externally, a root node is really a concept. Internally, there are data structures that represent this concept, but there is no text that you can point to and call a root node.

The following query instructs the XPath processor to start at the root node, as indicated by the forward slash at the beginning of the query.

/bookstore
               

            

This query searches the children of the root node for a bookstore element. Because the name of the document element is bookstore, the query returns it. If the name of the document element is not bookstore, this query returns an empty set.

The following query returns the entire document, starting with the root node. As you can see, the entire query is just a forward slash:

/
               

            

This query returns everything - comments, declarations, processing instructions, the document element, and any elements, attributes, comments, and processing instructions that the document element contains.