Get the value from xpath in selenium

Question

How can I get the value from xpath in Selenium.

public void DummyFunc(String startDate){
        String test;
        test=driver.findElement(By.xpath("//startDate"));           
    }

I am passing the location of the table like table > tr > td but I am getting an error when I use String.

Answer 1

Your answer need more precision. If "by value" you mean "text", you can have it with getText() method (it return the innerHTML ):

public void DummyFunc(String startDate){
   String test;
   test = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//"+startDate));           
   return test.getText()
}

edit : btw, table > tr > td is not a valid xpath string. It should be //table/tr/td