Xpath - access penultimate node of a list with variable length?

Question

I have a div that contains several, but a varying amount of h3s (as well as a lot of p but they can be ignored). The last h3 has a constat value (but no class or id). There is also an img with some, probably unique, properties a the end of the div. All in all it looks something like this:

    <div class="article__body">
        <p>value</p>
        <h3>changing value</h3>
        <p>value</p>
        <p>value</p>
        <h3>changing value</h3>
        <h3>changing value</h3>
        *and so on for a bit*
        <h3>THIS IS THE VALUE I AM INTEREST IN</h3>
        <h3>THIS VALUE IS CONTSTANT</h3>
       <img srcset="/siteassets/lobby.png?preset=340&amp;version=63684897580 340w">
    </div>
   </div>
   <aside class="service">

Can I go to either to the h3 with the constant value, the img or maybe the aside tag outside this div (and one more level of divs) and then step back to the h3 I am interested in?

Jack Fleeting · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-04 11:01:29Z

2

This expression is simpler and also seems to work:

//h3[contains(text(),'CON')]/preceding-sibling::h3[1]

answered May 4, 2019 at 11:01

Jack Fleeting

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Martin Honnen · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-04 12:52:58Z

2

Note that your subject question "access penultimate node of a list with variable length?" in XPath would simply translate into //div[@class = 'article__body']/h3[last() - 1], i.e. in the list of h3 children you can select the penultimate with h3[last() - 1]: https://xqueryfiddle.liberty-development.net/3Nqn5Yi

edited May 4, 2019 at 12:52

answered May 4, 2019 at 12:14

Martin Honnen

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Lesiak · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-04 08:38:57Z

1

You can use easily find h3 with a constant value. Use preceding-sibling xpath axis to get its predecessor.

How to get the preceding element?

preceding would also work in your case Which should I use: preceding:: or preceding-sibling::?

edited May 4, 2019 at 8:38

answered May 4, 2019 at 8:33

Lesiak

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KunduK · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-04 09:09:31Z

1

Try Following Xpath.

To access h3 tag with constant value

'//div[@class="article__body"]/h3[text()="THIS VALUE IS CONTSTANT"]'

OR

'//div[@class="article__body"]/h3[contains(.,"CONTSTANT")]'

To get last h3 node of a tree.

'(//div[@class="article__body"]/h3)[last()]'

To access image with srcset property.

'//div[@class="article__body"]/img[contains(@srcset,"/siteassets/lobby.png?preset")]'

EDITED

'(//div[@class="article__body"]/h3)[last()-1]'

OR

'//div[@class="article__body"]/h3[text()="THIS VALUE IS CONTSTANT"]/preceding-sibling::h3[1]'

edited May 4, 2019 at 9:09

answered May 4, 2019 at 8:25

KunduK

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2 Comments

d-b Over a year ago

Yes, but how do I get the previous h3 from the constant h3 or last h3?

KunduK Over a year ago

@d-b : Please check 2 options i have provided in edited sections.

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