XPath: Get parent node from child node

Use the parent axes with the parent node's name.

//*[title="50"]/parent::store

This XPath will only select the parent node if it is a store.

But you can also use one of these

//*[title="50"]/parent::*//*[title="50"]/..

These xpaths will select any parent node. So if the document changes you will always select a node, even if it is not the node you expect.

EDIT

What happens in the given example where the parent is a bicycle but the parent of the parent is a store?

Does it ascent?

No, it only selects the store if it is a parent of the node that matches //*[title="50"].

If not, is there a method to ascent in such cases and return None if there is no such parent?

Yes, you can use ancestor axes

//*[title="50"]/ancestor::store

This will select all ancestors of the node matching //*[title="50"] that are ` stores. E.g.

<data xmlns:d="defiant-namespace" d:mi="23">    <store mi="1">        <store mi="22">            <book price="8.95" d:price="Number" d:mi="13">                <title d:constr="String" d:mi="10">50</title>                <category d:constr="String" d:mi="11">reference</category>                <author d:constr="String" d:mi="12">Nigel Rees</author>            </book>        </store>    </store></data>

Just as an alternative, you can use ancestor.

//*[title="50"]/ancestor::store

It's more powerful than parent since it can get even the grandparent or great great grandparent

You can use the two dots at the end of expression, too. See this example:

//*[title="50"]/..