XPath (XML Path Language) is a powerful tool for navigating and selecting elements in HTML/XML documents. This cheatsheet provides quick-reference syntax and examples to help you write precise XPath queries for accurate data extraction in Octoparse.
1. Basic XPath Syntax
Syntax | Example | Description |
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| Selects all |
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| Selects all |
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| Selects |
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| Absolute path (avoids ambiguity) |
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| Selects from the current node |
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| Selects the parent node |
2. Advanced XPath Techniques
A. Dynamic Element Selection
Use Case | XPath Example |
Contains text |
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Starts-with |
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Logical OR |
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Position-based selection |
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B. Handling Tables & Lists
//table/tr[2]/td[3] (3rd column of 2nd row) //ul/li[position()<=3] (First 3 list items)
C. Wildcards & Axes
Syntax | Example |
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3. Octoparse-Specific Tips
Best Practices
✔ Use relative XPath (e.g., //div[@class="result"]) over absolute paths (like /html/body/div[1]) for reliability.
✔ Test XPath in Browser DevTools (Press F12 → Console tab → $x("//your_xpath")).
✔ Combine with Octoparse’s Auto-Detect to validate selections.
Common Fixes
🔧 Broken XPath? Try:
normalize-space()://p[normalize-space()="Hello"](ignores extra spaces)contains()for dynamic classes://div[contains(@class, "product-")]
4. Quick Reference Table
Scenario | XPath Solution |
Extract all links |
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Click "Next" button |
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Select dropdown options |
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Avoid hidden elements |
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