<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<!-- $Revision: 1.4 $ -->
  <refentry id='function.simplexml-element-xpath'>
   <refnamediv>
    <refname>SimpleXMLElement->xpath</refname>
    <refpurpose>
     Runs Xpath query on XML data
    </refpurpose>
   </refnamediv>
   <refsect1>
    <title>Description</title>
    <methodsynopsis>
     <type>array</type><methodname>SimpleXMLElement->xpath</methodname>
     <methodparam><type>string</type><parameter>path</parameter></methodparam>
    </methodsynopsis>
    <para>
     The <literal>xpath</literal> method searches the SimpleXML node for
     children matching the <acronym>Xpath</acronym> <parameter>path</parameter>.
     It always returns an <type>array</type> of SimpleXMLElement objects.
    </para>
    <para>
     <example>
      <title>Xpath</title>
      <programlisting role="php">
<![CDATA[
<?php
$string = <<<XML
<a>
 <b>
  <c>text</c>
  <c>stuff</c>
 </b>
 <d>
  <c>code</c>
 </d>
</a>
XML;

$xml = simplexml_load_string($string);

/* Search for <a><b><c> */
$result = $xml->xpath('/a/b/c');

while(list( , $node) = each($result)) {
    echo '/a/b/c: ',$node,"\n";
}

/* Relative paths also work... */
$result = $xml->xpath('b/c');

while(list( , $node) = each($result)) {
    echo 'b/c: ',$node,"\n";
}
?>
]]>
      </programlisting>
      <para>
       This script will display:
      </para>
      <screen>
<![CDATA[
/a/b/c: text
/a/b/c: stuff
b/c: text
b/c: stuff
]]>
      </screen>
      <simpara>
       Notice that the two results are equal.
      </simpara>
     </example>
    </para>
   </refsect1>
  </refentry>

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