Скачать или смотреть #2 Absolute & Relative XPath

Absolute XPath - In case of absolute XPath, the XPath expression is created using the selection from the root node. It starts with a single slash ‘/’ and traverses from the root to the whole DOM to reach to the desired element. The biggest disadvantage of using this as locating an element is, if during the course of development any changes made in the path, may lead to a failed XPath expression. Example: - /html/body/fieldset/input[1]
Relative XPath - In case of relative XPath, the XPath expression is generated from the middle of the DOM structure. It is represented by a double slash ‘//’ denoting the current node. In this case the search will start from the mentioned tagname and string value. It is more compact, easy to use and less prone to been broken. Example: - //input[@name='inpdate']
Note: -
A single slash ‘/’ anywhere in Xpath signifies to look for the element immediately inside its parent element.
A double slash ‘//’ signifies to look for any child or any grand-child element inside the parent element.