How to simplify this Xpath expression ?

Posted by Stephan on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Stephan
Published on 2011-01-14T12:43:06Z Indexed on 2011/01/14 12:53 UTC
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xpath

|

expression

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reduction

Hi ,

I have the following XML code :

<root>
   <a><l_desc/></a>
   <b><l_desc>foo</l_desc></b>
   <c><l_desc>bar</l_desc></c>
</root>

I want to match the l_desc nodes with a or b nodes as parent.
For now, i use this xpath expression : //a/l_desc/.. | //b/l_desc/..

I would prefer writing something like this : //(a|b)/l_desc/.. Unfortunately, this expression is invalid.

Do you have any idea for reducing the first expression ?

Stéphan

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