The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice

--- schema_version: "1" id: 914311fac3aa9a762c085a9c22336852cde3e2ac2a0cb707498d410758b41458 title: Using XPath with the XML Module collection: mulesoft version: current locale: en-us portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/mulesoft/current/en-us/xml-module/latest/xml-xpath.md canonical_url: https://docs.mulesoft.com/xml-module/latest/xml-xpath source_site: docs.mulesoft.com content_type: documentation content_hash: f692a4a73b3ba99dde334c3e3c5404536143ddc3387a5b15075c784cbf296ee7 description: MuleSoft Documentation Site release: "1.4" latest: true --- --- product: XML Module version: 1.4 is-latest-version: true --- # Using XPath with the XML Module > For the full documentation index, see: https://docs.mulesoft.com/llms.txt The `` operation supports the evaluation of XPath expressions. Because XPath expressions can match any number of individual elements, this operation returns a list of Strings. If no element matches the expression, the operation returns an empty list. XPath expressions are also namespace-aware, so this operation allows namespace mappings. These mappings are merged with any `namespaces` defined in the referenced `namespace-directory`, meaning that the evaluation combines both sets of namespace mappings. Although MuleSoft supports the XPath standard, DataWeave is capable of achieving the same use cases and is the recommended tool for extracting and transforming XML documents. This example shows how to work with XML that contains the script of the play Othello by William Shakespeare. The XML file looks like this: ```xml The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice

Text placed in the public domain by Moby Lexical Tools, 1992.

SGML markup by Jon Bosak, 1992-1994.

XML version by Jon Bosak, 1996-1998.

This work may be freely copied and distributed worldwide.

Dramatis Personae DUKE OF VENICE BRABANTIO, a senator. Other Senators. GRATIANO, brother to Brabantio. LODOVICO, kinsman to Brabantio. OTHELLO, a noble Moor in the service of the Venetian state. CASSIO, his lieutenant. IAGO, his ancient. RODERIGO, a Venetian gentleman. MONTANO, Othello's predecessor in the government of Cyprus. Clown, servant to Othello. DESDEMONA, daughter to Brabantio and wife to Othello. EMILIA, wife to Iago. BIANCA, mistress to Cassio. Sailor, Messenger, Herald, Officers, Gentlemen, Musicians, and Attendants. SCENE Venice: a Sea-port in Cyprus. OTHELLO ACT I SCENE I. Venice. A street. Enter RODERIGO and IAGO RODERIGO Tush! never tell me; I take it much unkindly That thou, Iago, who hast had my purse As if the strings were thine, shouldst know of this. ..... ``` Assumethat you have the text of the entire play in the format shown above. You can use this script to extract all lines that contain the word `handkerchief`: XPath Script ```xml (1) #[{'word': 'handkerchief'}] (2) ```

1	Provides an XPath expression that uses the `$` prefix to reference context properties.
2	Uses DataWeave in the `context-properties` parameter to produce the context properties.

The XPath script above outputs the following List of Strings, where each `LINE` is a different item in the list: Output ```xml For the same handkerchief? What handkerchief? What handkerchief? Have you not sometimes seen a handkerchief I know not that; but such a handkerchief-- Where should I lose that handkerchief, Emilia? Lend me thy handkerchief. That handkerchief Fetch me the handkerchief: my mind misgives. The handkerchief! The handkerchief! The handkerchief! Sure, there's some wonder in this handkerchief: But if I give my wife a handkerchief,-- But, for the handkerchief,-- Boding to all--he had my handkerchief. --Handkerchief--confessions--handkerchief!--To --Is't possible?--Confess--handkerchief!--O devil!-- mean by that same handkerchief you gave me even now? By heaven, that should be my handkerchief! And did you see the handkerchief? That handkerchief which I so loved and gave thee By heaven, I saw my handkerchief in's hand. I saw the handkerchief. It was a handkerchief, an antique token O thou dull Moor! that handkerchief thou speak'st of How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief ``` By default, the operation attempts to transform an XML document at the message payload level. However, you can use the `content` parameter to supply the input document: ```xml

#[vars.othello]

#[{'word': 'handkerchief'}]

``` The example above gets the content from elsewhere (in this case, from a file in the filesystem) and then references it using a simple expression. ## Mapping Namespaces There are cases in which the input XML document contains elements with different namespaces, for example: ```xml Hello! ``` The following example maps each `prefix` used in the XPath expressions to the corresponding namespace `uri`. ```xml

``` But what happens if you need to execute several XPath expressions that use the same namespaces? To avoid performing the mapping each time, you can create a `namespace-directory` for the mappings and then reference that directory, for example: ```xml (1)

(2)(3)

```

1	The `namespace-directory` element is used to map prefixes to the actual namespace URIs. Notice these prefixes should match those used in the input document.
2	You can then reference those prefixes in your XPath expression.
3	Finally, use the `namespaceDirectory` parameter to reference the mapping created in step 1.

Finally, you can combine use cases. For example, you can have a global `namespaceDirectory` that contains some mappings and then add additional ones at the operation level. This combination is useful if you have a lot of documents that all contain the `soap` namespace but only one of them contains the `mule` namespace: ```xml (1)

(2) (3)

(4)

```

1	As you did previously, declare a `namespace-directory`, but supply only the common namespaces.
2	Provide your XPath expression.
3	Reference the partial namespace directory.
4	Provide the additional mapping.

It is important to note that the prefixes used in the mappings and XPath expressions must match the ones used in the input document. ## Using XPath as a Function The XML module provides a DataWeave function for extracting values using XPath. This is useful in cases such as a `` or `` routers. Note that you can also use this function inside any DataWeave transformation. ## Using the XPath Function with In the following example, `` is used to iterate over all the lines in the previous [Othello lines](#othello_lines) example, and process them separately: ```xml

``` - The first argument is the XPath expression. - The second argument is the input document, which, in this case, is the message payload. - The third argument is the context properties, which, in this case, are not required, so the function passes an empty object (`{}`). - The fourth argument is **optional** and provides the namespaces to evaluate the expression xpath. ## Using XPath Function with Returning to the [Othello lines](#othello_lines) example, suppose you want to do something if the input document does not contain the word `handkerchief`. ```xml

``` - Since the `XmlModule::xpath` function returns a list, the previous example uses the DataWeave `isEmpty()` function to test whether or not the output is empty. - The first argument of the XPath function is an expression that uses the `$word` context property. - The second argument is the input document within a variable. - The third argument provides the context properties values. - The fourth argument is **optional** and provides the namespaces to evaluate the expression xpath. ## Using XPath Function with Namespaces When the input document has XML namespaces, the XPath function needs that information to perform the evaluation. In the following examples, you use the `set-payload` component to get the book’s title, author’s name and book’s year tag from an input document. The document has an explicit default `xmlns` attribute and other `xmlns` attributes for languages and author: ```xml Fundamentals 2001 David Mills English ``` In the first example, in order to get the book’s title, configure the `set-payload` component as follows: ```xml ``` The result output is `Fundamentals`. In the second example, to get the author’s name, configure the `set-payload` component as follows: ```xml ``` The result output is `David Mills`. In the third example, to get the book’s year tag, configure the `set-payload` component as follows: ```xml ``` The result output that contains the `xmlns` attribute is `2001`. ## See Also [XML Module Overview](https://docs.mulesoft.com/xml-module/latest/)