Chapter 4. Traversing the Tree

In the previous three chapters, you have seen a number of examples that use the XML Path Language (XPath). This chapter discusses XPath topics, such as the XPath data model, the difference between patterns and expressions, predicates, the difference between abbreviated and unabbreviated location paths, axes, and node and name tests. (XPath and XSLT functions will be discussed in the next chapter.)

Though it is not exactly light reading, you may want to print a copy of the XPath 1.0 specification. It is a little over 30 pages. You can find it at http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath.