Question

Why don’t I get any results using the XML and XPath code below?

This is actually PowerShell but I also tried it with this online tool but again: it output nothing!

I think I’m totally overlooking something!

[xml] $xml = @"
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <ItemGroup Label="ProjectConfigurations">
    <ProjectConfiguration Include="Debug|AnyCPU">
      <Configuration>Debug</Configuration>
      <Platform>AnyCPU</Platform>
    </ProjectConfiguration>
    <ProjectConfiguration Include="Debug|ARM">
      <Configuration>Debug</Configuration>
      <Platform>ARM</Platform>
    </ProjectConfiguration>
    <ProjectConfiguration Include="Debug|x64">
      <Configuration>Debug</Configuration>
      <Platform>x64</Platform>
    </ProjectConfiguration>
    <ProjectConfiguration Include="Debug|x86">
      <Configuration>Debug</Configuration>
      <Platform>x86</Platform>
    </ProjectConfiguration>
    <ProjectConfiguration Include="Release|AnyCPU">
      <Configuration>Release</Configuration>
      <Platform>AnyCPU</Platform>
    </ProjectConfiguration>
  </ItemGroup>
</Project>
"@;

Select-Xml "//ItemGroup" $xml | % {
    Write-Host $_.Node.GetType();
}

Answer 1

It’s because of the default namespace.

Try //*[local-name()='ItemGroup'].

or /*/*[local-name()='ItemGroup']

or /*/*

All 3 of these should return ItemGroup.