XPath

XPath, XML Path Language, is a language used to identify specific tags and nodes within an XML document. In Modern Campus CMS, the XML document is modeled as a tree structure with a single root node defined as <document>.

Axis Selection OptionsLink to this section

An axis is a relationship between a specific node identified using XPath and other nodes within the file's tree structure. Below is a listing of commonly used axis options within Modern Campus CMS.

Axis Option	Description	Example
`ancestor`	Selects all ancestors of the specified node including parent nodes, parent of parent nodes, etc.	`<xsl:copy-of select="ancestor::p" />`
`ancestor-or-self`	Selects the specified nodes and all ancestor nodes.	`<xsl:copy-of select="ancestor-or-self::p" />`
`attribute`	Selects the specified nodes attributes.	`<xsl:copy-of select="p/attribute()" />`
`child`	Selects the immediate child nodes of the specified node.	`<xsl:copy-of select="child::p" />`
`descendant`	Selects all descendants of the specified node including child nodes, child of child nodes, etc.	`<xsl:copy-of select="descendant::p" />`
`descendant-or-self`	Selects the specified nodes and all descendent nodes.	`<xsl:copy-of select="descendant-or-self::p"/>`
`following`	Selects all nodes that appear after the specified node but excludes any direct ancestors.	`<xsl:copy-of select="following::p" />`
`following-siblings`	Selects all nodes that appear after the specified node and are at the same depth within the file's tree structure.	`<xsl:copy-of select="following-sibling::p" />`
`parent`	Selects all the parents of the specified node.	`<xsl:copy-of select="parent::p" />`
`preceding`	Selects all nodes that appear before the specified node but excludes any direct ancestors.	`<xsl:copy-of select="preceding::p" />`
`preceding-siblings`	Selects all nodes that appear before the specified node and are at the same depth within the file's tree structure.	`<xsl:copy-of select="preceding-sibling::p" />`

Abbreviated Axis Selection OptionsLink to this section

Some of the axis selections above have abbreviations to make the XSL easier to follow.

Axis Option	Abbreviation
`attribute`	`<xsl:copy-of select="p/@" />`
`descendant-or-self`	`<xsl:copy-of select="//p" />`
`parent`	`<xsl:copy-of select=".." />`
`self`	`<xsl:copy-of select="." />`
An element of any name	`<xsl:copy-of select="*" />`
The n^th element	`<xsl:copy-of select="//p[n]" />`

XPath FunctionsLink to this section

XPath functions add flexibility and enhance values returned using XPath. Below is a listing of commonly used XPath functions within Modern Campus CMS. More functions can be found on the W3C XPath and XQuery Functions page.

Function	Description	Output
`concat()`	Takes two or more arguments, converts each into a string, and combines them into a single string on output. `<xsl:variable name="index-filename" select="concat($index-file, '.' , $extension)"/>`	`default.html`
`upper-case()`	Converts lowercase characters into a string of uppercase characters. `<xsl:value-of select="upper-case('Gallena University')"/>`	`GALLENA UNIVERSITY`
`lower-case()`	Converts uppercase characters into a string of lowercase characters. `<xsl:value-of select="lower-case('Gopher News')"/>`	`gopher news`
`substring-after()`	Returns the portion of a string located after the first instance of a delimiter. `<xsl:value-of select="substring-after('index.html', '.')"/>`	`html`
`substring-before()`	Returns the portion of a string located before the first instance of a delimiter. `<xsl:value-of select="substring-before('index.html', '.')"/>`	`index`
`tokenize()`	Splits a string into a sequence of substrings at each instance of a delimiter. `<xsl:value-of select="tokenize('one, two, three', ',')"/>`	`one two three`

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