How to use $x("//input[@id='searchInput']") xpath in webdriver as it gives error to complete statement

Question

How to use $x("//input[@id='searchInput']") xpath in webdriver as it gives error to complete statement?

import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver;

public class Locaters {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub


        FirefoxDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver();

        driver.get("http://www.wikipedia.org/");
    //getting error with this xpath,so how can we work with these type of statements
        driver.findElement(By.xpath("$x("//input[@id='searchInput']")"));
    }

Answer 1

Not familiar with Selenium, but

$x("//input[@id='searchInput']")

is not a valid XPath expression. One without $ is:

driver.findElement(By.xpath("//input[@id='searchInput']"));

The documentation also suggests there is no such thing as an XPath expression with $ in Selenium.

EDIT: As suggested by @Arran, it is very likely that the confusion stems from the way XPath expressions can be used in the Chrome Console.

Answer 2

just give copied xpath

$x("//*[@id='searchInput']")