Difference between //, .//, and ..// in XPath?

Can anyone please help with the difference between the below XPaths and help me understand which of these to use when. I have found all three of them to work but not sure when to use them.

1. Get Element Text ${output} //priority

2. Get Element Text ${output} .//vrrp-group/name

3. Get Element Text ${output} ..//track/priority-hold-time

Solution 1:

Difference between //, .//, and ..// in XPath in general

// selects among descendant or self nodes (along the descendant-or-self axis). It is short for /descendant-or-self::node()/.

1. // starts from the root node, thus covering the entire document.
2. .// starts from the context node.
3. ..// starts from the parent of the context node.

In your particular case

1. //priority selects all priority elements in the document.
2. .//vrrp-group/name selects, beneath the context node, all name elements with a vrrp-group parent.
3. ..//track/priority-hold-time selects, beneath the parent of the context node, all priority-hold-time elements with a track parent.

Robotframework note:

In the context of the Get Element Text Robotframework XML library command, the XPath must be relative to the source node (${output} in your case). Absolute XPaths such as //priority are not allowed there.

See also

• Difference between "//" and "/" in XPath?
• What is the difference between .// and //* in XPath?
• What is meaning of .// in XPath?