## com.saxonica.expr
Class PathFinder

    java.lang.Object
      com.saxonica.expr.PathFinder

All Implemented Interfaces:
  Serializable, PatternFinder

    public class PathFinder

extends Object
implements PatternFinder

This class enables a client to find all nodes in a document that match a particular pattern. In fact, it allows any subset of nodes in a document to be located. It is used specifically by the internal implementation of keys. In XSLT, the criterion for including nodes in a key is that they match an XSLT pattern. Internally, however, keys are used for a wider range of purposes, and the nodes indexed by the key are defined by a PatternFinder

See Also:
  Serialized Form

Constructor Summary
`PathFinder(Expression path)` Create a PathFinder that finds all the nodes returned by a particular expression when invoked with the document node as context node

Method Summary
`Expression` `getSelectionExpression()` Get the underlying expression (usually a path expression or filter expression)
`SequenceIterator` `selectNodes(DocumentInfo doc, XPathContext context)` Select nodes in a document using this PatternFinder.
`String` `toString()` Get a string representation of the expression.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object
`clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait`

Constructor Detail

### PathFinder

    public PathFinder(Expression path)

  Create a PathFinder that finds all the nodes returned by a particular expression when invoked with the document node as context node

  Parameters:
    `path` - an expression designed to be evaluated with the document node of a tree as the context node, and which selects a set of nodes within the tree

Method Detail

### selectNodes

    public SequenceIterator selectNodes(DocumentInfo doc,
                                        XPathContext context)
                                 throws XPathException

  Select nodes in a document using this PatternFinder.

  Specified by:
    `selectNodes` in interface `PatternFinder`
  Parameters:
    `doc` - the document node at the root of a tree
    `context` - the dynamic evaluation context
  Returns:
    an iterator over the selected nodes in the document.
  Throws:
    `XPathException`

### getSelectionExpression

    public Expression getSelectionExpression()

  Get the underlying expression (usually a path expression or filter expression)

  Returns:
    the underlying expression

### toString

    public String toString()

  Get a string representation of the expression. Used in "explain" output

  Overrides:
    `toString` in class `Object`

Copyright (c) 2004-2010 Saxonica Limited. All rights reserved.