XPath Axis Family Tree Analogy
The major XPath axes follow family tree terminology: self:: is you. Downward: child:: are your immediate children. descendant:: are your children, and their children, recursively. descendant-or-self:: (aka // ): are you and your descendants. Upward: parent:: is your mother or father. ancestor:: are your parent, and your parent's parent, recursively. ancestor-or-self:: are you and your ancestors. Sideways (consider elements earlier in the document to be younger): previous-sibling:: are your younger siblings, in age order. following-sibling:: are your older siblings, in age order. previous:: are your younger siblings and their descendants, in age order. following:: are your older siblings and their descendants, in age order. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- child:: will select the immediate descendants of the ...