 <pre><code>static private XmlNode makeXPath(XmlDocument doc, string xpath) { return makeXPath(doc, doc as XmlNode, xpath); } static private XmlNode makeXPath(XmlDocument doc, XmlNode parent, string xpath) { // grab the next node name in the xpath; or return parent if empty string[] partsOfXPath = xpath.Trim('/').Split('/'); string nextNodeInXPath = partsOfXPath.First(); if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(nextNodeInXPath)) return parent; // get or create the node from the name XmlNode node = parent.SelectSingleNode(nextNodeInXPath); if (node == null) node = parent.AppendChild(doc.CreateElement(nextNodeInXPath)); // rejoin the remainder of the array as an xpath expression and recurse string rest = String.Join("/", partsOfXPath.Skip(1).ToArray()); return makeXPath(doc, node, rest); } static void Main(string[] args) { XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument(); doc.LoadXml("&lt;feed /&gt;"); makeXPath(doc, "/feed/entry/data"); XmlElement contentElement = (XmlElement)makeXPath(doc,"/feed/entry/content"); contentElement.SetAttribute("source", ""); Console.WriteLine(doc.OuterXml); } </code></pre>