jQuery XPath

jQuery XPath is a jQuery wrapper for the DOM 3 XPath API exposed by document.evaluate().

Instead of trying to remember what all the arguments to document.evaluate() are, and using some awkward iteration function, you can use $.xquery('//path') and get back a standard jQuery object. That uses the document as the node context; you can also use .xquery() on any jQuery object, which evaluates the XPath expression on each element.

Consider the case of finding an input field labeled by "First Name":

<ul>
  <li>
    <label for="first_name">First Name</label>
    <input id="first_name" type="text">
  </li>
  <li>
    <label for="last_name">Last Name</label>
    <input id="last_name" type="text">
  </li>
</ul>

jQuery:

$("input#" + $("label:contains('First Name')").attr("for"));

jQuery XPath:

$.xpath("//input[@id=//label[contains(., 'First Name')]/@for]");

Given that the jQuery version is shorter, why would you want to use XPath syntax instead? I don't know. I just wanted a simple API to test or debug XPath expressions. I use it to come up with XPaths for use in my capybara scenarios.

License

Take your pick: MIT or GPL.