Hi Just wanted to bring the above bug
"XPath Namespace resolver fails when namespace starts with a #" https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-6919625 to the attention of this list, since I've run into the same issue. In my case, the namespace looks like a GUID: xmlns:ns3='25863374-67c0-4723-8c21-1fb7e315143b' Someone went to a lot of effort to report the bug against the openjdk, but it appears to have languished with Oracle... I had a look through Apache JIRA, but couldn't see it there... If this is not a known issue, please let me know, and I'll submit it to JIRA. thanks .. Jason