On 2008-07-03 02:16:28 -0700, Bjoern Hoehrmann <bjoern@h...> said:

> * Phantom wrote in comp.text.xml:
>> I need to write an xpath query string that returns one or more specific 
>> elements on the fly, in this example, apple and/or orange. *this* works 
>> for JUST apple:
>> 
>> select xpath_eval('//apple',
> 
> So use `//apple | //orange`.

nope, that only returns the first hit for me (apple).

> 
>> Both the source and the match value are coming in at run time, so a 
>> series of OR clauses in the predicate won't work:
>> 
>> noGoExample: [local-name()="apple" or [local-name()="orange"]
> 
> Well here you have more [ than ] which usually is a syntax error. Use
> 
>   //*[local-name() = 'apple' or local-name() = 'orange']

I mean, it would function, but I can't go there... there might be 20 
fields posted, I need something more straightforward than assembling an 
OR predicate each time I call the xpath.

> 
>> I KNOW there's a simple representation for this, but just try looking 
>> for it online when you don't know what you're looking for. like looking 
>> for a word in the dictionary you don't know how to spell.
> 
> http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath has many examples, and contains everything
> there is to know about XPath 1.0.

thanks for the lead, but they don't cover this example, and they don't 
provide much in the way of examples.