Axes

Axis	Meaning
self	Selects the context node itself
parent	Selects the parent of the context node
child	Selects the children of the context node
attribute	Selects the attributes of the context node
namespace	Selects the namespaces of the context node
ancestor	Selects the parent, the parent's parent, and so on, recursively
descendant	Selects the children, the children's children, and so on, recursively
ancestor-or-self	Selects the ancestors of the context node together with the context node itself
descendant-or-self	Selects the descendants of the context node together with the context node itself
following-sibling	Selects the children of the context node's parent that follow the context node in document order
preceding -sibling	Selects the children of the context node's parent that precede the context node in document order
following	Selects all nodes that are descendants of a following sibling of an ancestor-or-self of the context node
preceding	Selects all nodes that are descendants of a preceding sibling of an ancestor-or-self of the context node