element_count

Tests the number of XML elements matching an XPath expression against expected count with various comparison modes.

Parameters

• dst (str, required): Path to the XML file (supports glob patterns)

• xpath (str, required): XPath expression to locate elements

• expected_count (int, required): Expected number of matching elements

• comparison_type (str, optional): Comparison mode (default: “equals”)

  • equals: Exact count match

  • greater: More than expected count

  • less: Fewer than expected count

  • greater_equal: At least expected count

  • less_equal: At most expected count

• namespaces (dict, optional): Namespace prefix to URI mapping

Examples

Exact count:

- name: check_user_count
  function: xml.element_count
  parameter:
    dst: "/path/to/users.xml"
    xpath: ".//user"
    expected_count: 10

Minimum count:

- name: check_minimum_entries
  function: xml.element_count
  parameter:
    dst: "/path/to/log.xml"
    xpath: ".//entry[@level='ERROR']"
    expected_count: 1
    comparison_type: "greater_equal"

Maximum count:

- name: check_maximum_warnings
  function: xml.element_count
  parameter:
    dst: "/path/to/log.xml"
    xpath: ".//entry[@level='WARNING']"
    expected_count: 5
    comparison_type: "less_equal"

With namespaces:

- name: check_namespaced_count
  function: xml.element_count
  parameter:
    dst: "/path/to/document.xml"
    xpath: ".//ns:item"
    expected_count: 3
    namespaces:
      ns: "http://example.com/namespace"

Notes

• Comparison Types:

  • equals: count == expected_count

  • greater: count > expected_count

  • less: count < expected_count

  • greater_equal: count >= expected_count

  • less_equal: count <= expected_count

• Zero Count: Returns 0 if no elements match the XPath

• Complex XPath: Supports attribute filters and other XPath features within ElementTree limitations