select_nodes method

select_nodes(xpath)

Selects a list of nodes matching the XPath expression.

def select_nodes(self, xpath: str):
    ...

Parameter	Type	Description
xpath	str	The XPath expression.

Remarks

Only expressions with element names are supported at the moment. Expressions that use attribute names are not supported.

Returns

A list of nodes matching the XPath query.

Examples

Shows how to select certain nodes by using an XPath expression.

doc = aw.Document(file_name=MY_DIR + 'Tables.docx')
# This expression will extract all paragraph nodes,
# which are descendants of any table node in the document.
node_list = doc.select_nodes('//Table//Paragraph')
# Iterate through the list with an enumerator and print the contents of every paragraph in each cell of the table.
index = 0
for node in node_list:
    print(f'Table paragraph index {index}, contents: "{node.get_text().strip()}"')
    index += 1
# This expression will select any paragraphs that are direct children of any Body node in the document.
node_list = doc.select_nodes('//Body/Paragraph')
# We can treat the list as an array.
self.assertEqual(4, len(list(node_list)))
# Use SelectSingleNode to select the first result of the same expression as above.
node = doc.select_single_node('//Body/Paragraph')
self.assertEqual(aw.Paragraph, type(node.as_paragraph()))

Shows how to use an XPath expression to test whether a node is inside a field.

doc = aw.Document(file_name=MY_DIR + 'Mail merge destination - Northwind employees.docx')
# The NodeList that results from this XPath expression will contain all nodes we find inside a field.
# However, FieldStart and FieldEnd nodes can be on the list if there are nested fields in the path.
# Currently does not find rare fields in which the FieldCode or FieldResult spans across multiple paragraphs.
result_list = doc.select_nodes('//FieldStart/following-sibling::node()[following-sibling::FieldEnd]')
# Check if the specified run is one of the nodes that are inside the field.
first_run = next((n for n in result_list if n.node_type == aw.NodeType.RUN), None)
if first_run:
    print(f"Contents of the first Run node that's part of a field: {first_run.get_text().strip()}")

See Also

• module aspose.words
• class CompositeNode