XPath relative vs absolute tests

Question

I would like to better understand the meaning and usefulness of . before /h3. I looked for a website with a tutorial, but I couldn't find one explaining its use.

//div[./h3/a[text()='Home']]

Have you seen this one: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/35606708/what-is-the-difference-between-and-in-xpath/35608304 — General Grievance, Mar 05 '21 at 14:30

kjhughes · Accepted Answer · 2021-03-06T01:07:00.753

The difference is that of relative vs absolute selection.

Disregarding the /a[text()='Home'] common to both cases:

Relative selection: //div[./h3] selects all div elements that have an h3 child element.
Note that it can be simplified to //div[h3].
Absolute selection: //div[/h3] selects all div elements provided that the document root element is h3.

Absolute tests such as /h3 within a predicate ([/h3]) are relatively uncommon.

XPath relative vs absolute tests

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