---
title: "XPath Assertion"
description: "Configure the JMeter XPath Assertion assertions: properties, defaults, and practical usage notes for building reliable load tests."
url: https://docs.jmeter.ai/components/xpath-assertion/
lastUpdated: 2026-10-01
source: docs.jmeter.ai
---

# XPath Assertion

*Part of the **Assertions** category. Also documented in context in the [full Component Reference](/user-manual/component-reference/#xpath-assertion).*

![XPath Assertion](/images/screenshots/xpath_assertion.png)

The XPath Assertion tests a document for well formedness, has the option
of validating against a DTD, or putting the document through JTidy and testing for an
XPath.  If that XPath exists, the Assertion is true.  Using “`/`” will match any well-formed
document, and is the default XPath Expression.
The assertion also supports boolean expressions, such as “`count(//*error)=2`”.
See [http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath](http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath) for more information
on XPath.

Some sample expressions:

- `//title[text()='Text to match']` - matches `<title>Text to match</title>` anywhere in the response
- `/title[text()='Text to match']` - matches `<title>Text to match</title>` at root level in the response

| Name | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Name | No | Descriptive name for this element that is shown in the tree. |
| Use Tidy (tolerant parser) | Yes | Use Tidy, i.e. be tolerant of XML/HTML errors |
| Quiet | If Tidy is selected | Sets the Tidy Quiet flag |
| Report Errors | If Tidy is selected | If a Tidy error occurs, then set the Assertion accordingly |
| Show warnings | If Tidy is selected | Sets the Tidy showWarnings option |
| Use Namespaces | If Tidy is not selected | Should namespaces be honoured? (see note below on NAMESPACES) |
| Validate XML | If Tidy is not selected | Check the document against its schema. |
| Ignore Whitespace | If Tidy is not selected | Ignore Element Whitespace. |
| Fetch External DTDs | If Tidy is not selected | If selected, external DTDs are fetched. |
| XPath Assertion | Yes | XPath to match in the document. |
| Invert assertion(will fail if above conditions met) | No | True if a XPath expression is not matched or returns false |

> **Note**
> The non-tolerant parser can be quite slow, as it may need to download the DTD etc.

> **Note**
> **NAMESPACES**
>
> As a work-round for namespace limitations of the Xalan XPath parser (implementation on which JMeter is based) you need to:
>
> - provide a Properties file (if for example your file is named `namespaces.properties`) which contains mappings for the namespace prefixes: `prefix1=http\://foo.apache.org prefix2=http\://toto.apache.org …`
> - reference this file in `user.properties` file using the property:      `xpath.namespace.config=namespaces.properties`

## Related

- [Assertions & SLA Validation](/topics/jmeter-assertions-guide/)
- [Full Component Reference](/user-manual/component-reference/)
- [Functions and Variables](/user-manual/functions/)