c# - XPath: Select from non-root node fails -

I am trying to start with nodes that are not the root nodes of XML documents The following code: < Pre> foreach (XmlNode xmlIter .ctlect nodes ("/ refresher / refact1 [[id = 'parameter'] / variables / *")) {parameter p = new parameter (); XmlNode = xmlIter.SelectSingleNode ("varlistentry / word / parameter"); P.Identifier = xmlNode.InnerText; XmlNode = xmlIter.SelectSingleNode ("varlistentry / listitem"); P.Documentation = xmlNode.InnerText; }

The XML document (here is only one snippet) is the following:

  & lt; Refsect1 id = "parameter" & gt; & Lt; Title & gt; Parameters & lt; / Title & gt; & Lt; Variablelist & gt; & Lt; Varlistentry & gt; & Lt; Period & gt; & Lt; Parameter & gt; Pipeline & lt; / Parameters & gt; & Lt; / Period & gt; & Lt; ListItem & gt; & Lt; Paragraph & gt; & Lt; / Paragraph & gt; & Lt; / ListItem & gt; & Lt; / Varlistentry & gt; & Lt; Varlistentry & gt; & Lt; Period & gt; & Lt; Parameter & gt; Program & lt; / Parameters & gt; & Lt; / Period & gt; & Lt; ListItem & gt; & Lt; Paragraph & gt; & Lt; / Paragraph & gt; & Lt; / ListItem & gt; & Lt; / Varlistentry & gt; & Lt; / Variablelist & gt; & Lt; / Refsect1 & gt;   
 But the above code does not work:  xmlNode  The variable is always empty ... what's wrong?   
 
 
 Leading "/" means "starting with the root of the document". Just try:  
  xmlNode = xmlIter.SelectSingleNode ("varlistentry / word / parameter"); P.Identifier = xmlNode.InnerText; XmlNode = xmlIter.SelectSingleNode ("varlistentry / term / listitem"); P.Documentation = xmlNode.InnerText;   
 (If you are using .NET 3.5 or later I would rather use LINQ instead of XML - I find it easy to use XPath, but this one If you want the XML code to the same LINQ as you want.)  
 Edit: Understand your  [stuff] / variablelist / *  query already in the  Varlistentry is going to the node - then you are trying to find another  varlistentry  node  below  if you want to replace it with all  varli Stentry  elements, then you only  word / parameter  and  listitem  elements  varlistentry .  
 This works:   Precam (xmlNode xmlIter ("/ refentry / refsect1 [@ id = 'parameter'] / variables / varlistentry" in doc.SelectNodes ) {XmlNode xmlNode = xmlIter.SelectSingleNode ("word / parameter"); Console.light line ("identifier = {0}", xmlNode.InnerText); XmlNode = xmlIter.SelectSingleNode ("list"); Console.light line ("documentation = {0}", xmlNode.InnerText); }   
 You may note, it is still valid that  xmlNode  is non-empty before using it.