=head1 NAME

XML::LibXML::XPathExpression - XML::LibXML::XPathExpression - interface to libxml2 pre-compiled XPath expressions

=head1 SYNOPSIS



  use XML::LibXML;
  my $compiled_xpath = new XML::LibXML::XPathExpression('//foo[@bar="baz"][position()<4]');

  # interface from XML::LibXML::Node 

  my $result = $node->find($compiled_xpath);
  my @nodes = $node->findnodes($compiled_xpath);
  my $value = $node->findvalue($compiled_xpath);

  # interface from XML::LibXML::XPathContext

  my $result = $xpc->find($compiled_xpath,$node);
  my @nodes = $xpc->findnodes($compiled_xpath,$node);
  my $value = $xpc->findvalue($compiled_xpath,$node);

  $compiled = XML::LibXML::XPathExpression->new( xpath_string );

=head1 DESCRIPTION

This is a perl interface to libxml2's pre-compiled XPath expressions.
Pre-compiling an XPath expression can give in some performance benefit if the
same XPath query is evaluated many times. C<<<<<< XML::LibXML::XPathExpression >>>>>> objects can be passed to all C<<<<<< find... >>>>>> functions C<<<<<< XML::LibXML >>>>>> that expect an XPath expression. 

=over 4

=item new()

  $compiled = XML::LibXML::XPathExpression->new( xpath_string );

The constructor takes an XPath 1.0 expression as a string and returns an object
representing the pre-compiled expressions (the actual data structure is
internal to libxml2). 



=back

=head1 AUTHORS

Matt Sergeant, 
Christian Glahn, 
Petr Pajas


=head1 VERSION

1.70

=head1 COPYRIGHT

2001-2007, AxKit.com Ltd.

2002-2006, Christian Glahn.

2006-2009, Petr Pajas.

=cut