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How to find descendant elements (LINQ to XML)

This article shows how to use XPath and LINQ to XML query, in C# and Visual Basic, to find all descendant elements that have a specified name.

Example Find descendant elements that have a specified name

This example shows how to use LINQ to XML query and XPath to find all descendant elements named Name in XML document Sample XML file: Multiple purchase orders. The XPath expression is //Name.

XDocument po = XDocument.Load("PurchaseOrders.xml");

// LINQ to XML query
IEnumerable<XElement> list1 = po.Root.Descendants("Name");

// XPath expression
IEnumerable<XElement> list2 = po.XPathSelectElements("//Name");

if (list1.Count() == list2.Count() &&
        list1.Intersect(list2).Count() == list1.Count())
    Console.WriteLine("Results are identical");
else
    Console.WriteLine("Results differ");
foreach (XElement el in list1)
    Console.WriteLine(el);

Dim po As XDocument = XDocument.Load("PurchaseOrders.xml")

' LINQ to XML query
Dim list1 As IEnumerable(Of XElement) = po...<Name>

' XPath expression
Dim list2 As IEnumerable(Of XElement) = po.XPathSelectElements("//Name")

If (list1.Count() = list2.Count() And _
        list1.Intersect(list2).Count() = list1.Count()) Then
    Console.WriteLine("Results are identical")
Else
    Console.WriteLine("Results differ")
End If
For Each el As XElement In list1
    Console.WriteLine(el)
Next

This example produces the following output:

Results are identical
<Name>Ellen Adams</Name>
<Name>Tai Yee</Name>
<Name>Cristian Osorio</Name>
<Name>Cristian Osorio</Name>
<Name>Jessica Arnold</Name>
<Name>Jessica Arnold</Name>

See also