Why does this XPath expression not return the correct value in xmlstarlet?

Question

I\'m trying to extract the contents of the \'coordinates\' node in this KML file using xmlstarlet.

The KML file validates fine using xmlstarlet itself.

I\'ve

Answer 1

You need to define and use a namespace prefix for http://earth.google.com/kml/2.2 test.kml - something like this:

xmlstarlet sel -t -c "//kml:coordinates/text()" -N kml=http://earth.google.com/kml/2.2 test.kml

XPaths do not have a default namespace - if a name in a XPath does not specify a namespace prefix it is assumed to be in the null namespace; hence it is necessary to always specify a namespace prefix when trying to match nodes whose names are in a namespace different from the null one (as in this case).