Your first xpath '/*/person' returns all person elements. Note: Starting an XPath expression with '/' will disregard the current context and will start evaluating the expression from the root element.
So your second xpath '/*/name/text()' would have returned a value if your document had the following structure: <db> <name>Jack</name> <name>Barbara</name> </db> To fix this use a relative XPath expression: 'name/text()' String name(Element e) { XPath nameXPath = DocumentHelper.createXPath("name/text()"); return nameXPath.valueOf(e); // valueInside() would have been a nicer name } Regards, Edwin ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: IntelliVIEW -- Interactive Reporting Tool for open source databases. Create drag-&-drop reports. Save time by over 75%! Publish reports on the web. Export to DOC, XLS, RTF, etc. Download a FREE copy at http://www.intelliview.com/go/osdn_nl _______________________________________________ dom4j-user mailing list dom4j-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/dom4j-user