What is XPath?
XPath is a query language that lets you navigate and extract data from HTML and XML documents. Think of it as a GPS for web pages. Instead of clicking through elements manually, you write path expressions that tell your scraper exactly where to find the data you need.
When you scrape websites, you need a way to pinpoint specific elements like product prices, article headlines, or contact information. XPath gives you that precision. You create a pattern, and the parser follows it to locate matching elements, no matter where they sit in the document structure.
How XPath works
XPath uses path expressions to select nodes in HTML documents. The syntax looks similar to file system paths on your computer. A double slash (//) means the element can appear anywhere in the document. A single slash (/) means you're looking for a direct parent-child relationship.
For example, //h1 grabs all h1 elements anywhere on the page. The expression //div/p finds paragraph tags that are direct children of div elements. You can also select elements by position. The expression //li[3] picks the third list item (XPath counts from 1, not 0), and //li[last()] grabs the last one.
Real examples for web scraping
Selecting by attributes
The expression //div[@class="product-price"] finds all div elements with the class "product-price". This is your go-to method when scraping structured data like product listings or article cards.
Partial matching with contains()
When you don't know the exact attribute value, use contains(). The expression //a[contains(@href, "/products/")] finds all links that include "/products/" in their URL. This works great when class names include dynamic parts or when you want to match text patterns.
Extracting by text content
You can target elements based on what they say. The expression //button[text()="Add to Cart"] finds buttons with that exact text. Use //span[contains(text(), "Price:")] to find spans that include "Price:" anywhere in their content.
Navigating relationships
Sometimes you need to move between related elements. Use //h2/following-sibling::p to grab paragraph tags that come after h2 headings. The expression //span[@class="author"]/.. selects the parent element of any span with class "author".
Extracting attribute values
To pull out attribute values like URLs or image sources, use //a/@href to get all link URLs or //img/@src to get all image sources.
Testing XPath expressions
Before you write scraping code, test your XPath expressions in the browser. Right-click on any webpage and select "Inspect" to open developer tools. Click the element selector icon (looks like a mouse pointer) and click on the element you want to scrape. This highlights the HTML you need to target.
You can also use browser extensions like XPath Helper. Type your expression in the query box and see results instantly. This saves you from running your scraper multiple times just to fix syntax errors.
Common web scraping use cases
You'll use XPath when scraping product catalogs from e-commerce sites. Target product titles, prices, and descriptions by navigating table structures or div hierarchies. News aggregation projects rely on XPath to extract headlines and article links across different site layouts. Lead generation often involves scraping contact directories where XPath helps you match specific organizational structures.
XPath really shines when dealing with complex HTML structures. CSS selectors work fine for simple cases, but XPath lets you write queries based on text content, move between related elements, and select by position all in one expression.
How Browse AI simplifies XPath for you
Writing XPath expressions takes practice, and maintaining them when websites change is a headache. Browse AI removes that complexity with a no-code approach to web scraping. You point and click on the data you want, and the platform handles the technical details behind the scenes. No XPath syntax to memorize, no expressions to debug when a site redesigns its layout. You get the power of precise data extraction without writing a single line of code.
