how to select table column by column header name with xpath

Answer 1

You could use this XPath:

/table/tbody/tr/td[count(preceding-sibling::td)+1 = count(ancestor::table/thead/tr/th[.='Price']/preceding-sibling::th)+1]

I would think testing the position (position()) of the td against the position of the relevant th would work, but it didn't seem to when I was testing.

Answer 2

If you've found a solution, I suggest posting it as an answer here, but just for fun, this is how I would approach this:

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
  <xsl:output method="xml" indent="yes" omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>

  <xsl:key name="kCol" match="td" use="count(. | preceding-sibling::td)"/>
  <xsl:param name="column" select="'Price'" />

  <xsl:template match="@* | node()">
    <xsl:copy>
      <xsl:apply-templates select="@* | node()"/>
    </xsl:copy>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="/">
    <found>
      <xsl:apply-templates select="table/thead/tr/th" />
    </found>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="th">
    <xsl:if test=". = $column">
      <xsl:apply-templates select="key('kCol', position())" />
    </xsl:if>
  </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

When run with "Price" as the parameter value:

<found>
  <td>$10</td>
  <td>$20</td>
</found>

When run with "Name" as the parameter value:

<found>
  <td>Premium Copier paper</td>
  <td>Extra Copier paper</td>
</found>

Answer 3

Ok, i've found the answer that would suffice and look quite elegant. Here goes the required XPath string:

//table/tbody/tr/td[count(//table/thead/tr/th[.="$columnName"]/preceding-sibling::th)+1]

Put a name of the column instead of $columnName. This works well for me. There's no XSL or anything, just pure xpath string. How to apply it - it's another question.