xml_path

Extracts the text content of the first element matching an XPath expression in an XML string. If the matching element contains child elements, the full XML of that element is returned instead of just its text.

Syntax

xml_path(xml_string, xpath)

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
xml_string	string	Yes	The XML string to search.
xpath	string	Yes	The XPath expression specifying which element to extract.

Returns

Type: string or None

The text content of the first matching element, or the full XML string of that element if it has child elements. Returns None if no element matches the XPath.

Examples

Extract text from a simple element:

xml_path([xml_data], "//item")

If xml_data is "<root><item>Hello</item></root>", the result is "Hello".

Extract an element that has children (returns full XML):

xml_path([xml_data], "//item")

If xml_data is "<root><item><sub>Text</sub></item></root>", the result is "<item><sub>Text</sub></item>".

Extract with a specific path:

xml_path([payload], "//record/sys_id")

If payload is "<response><record><sys_id>abc123</sys_id><name>Test</name></record></response>", the result is "abc123".

Notes

• Only the first matching element is returned. Use xml_path_multi to retrieve all matches.
• The XPath expression follows standard XPath 1.0 syntax as supported by the lxml library.
• If the matching element has child elements, the full serialized XML of that element is returned, not just the concatenated text.
• Returns None (not an error) when no elements match the XPath.