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web api instance method

XPathEvaluator: createExpression() method

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This method compiles an XPathExpression which can then be used for (repeated) evaluations of the XPath expression.

Syntax

createExpression(expression)
createExpression(expression, resolver)

Parameters

  • expression
    • : A string representing the XPath expression to be created.
  • resolver Optional
    • : A Node, null, or any object implementing the lookupNamespaceURI method. Permits translation of all prefixes, including the xml namespace prefix, within the XPath expression into appropriate namespace URIs.

Return value

A XPathExpression representing the compiled form of the XPath expression.

Exceptions

INVALID_EXPRESSION_ERR

If the expression is not legal according to the rules of the XPathEvaluator, a DOMException of type INVALID_EXPRESSION_ERR is raised.

NAMESPACE_ERR

If the expression contains namespace prefixes which cannot be resolved by the specified XPathNSResolver, a DOMException of type NAMESPACE_ERROR is raised.

Examples

The following example shows the use of the evaluate() method.

HTML

<div>XPath example</div>
<div>Number of &lt;div&gt;s: <output></output></div>

JavaScript

const xpath = "//div";
const evaluator = new XPathEvaluator();
const expression = evaluator.createExpression(xpath);
const result = expression.evaluate(
  document,
  XPathResult.ORDERED_NODE_SNAPSHOT_TYPE,
);
document.querySelector("output").textContent = result.snapshotLength;

Result

Interactive exampleOpen the canonical MDN source to run this embedded demo.

Specifications

SpecificationsStandards references are available on the canonical MDN page.

Browser compatibility

Browser compatibilityCompatibility data is available on the canonical MDN page.

See also