diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d05485d..0b05045 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -517,4 +517,5 @@ To test the generated man page use:
 `MANPATH="./man" man man/xml2xpath.sh.1`
 
 ## Known issues
-* No one! ... that I know of :-p but [performance](#performance) with big documents can always be an issue.
+* `-p` might give inconsistent namespace prefixes on documents with multiple namespaces.  
+[Performance](#performance) with big documents can always be an issue.
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 26acbf0..aa22d3c 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-0.12.2
+0.12.3
diff --git a/tests/test-html-base.sh b/tests/test-html-base.sh
index ff8af10..c0d3f09 100755
--- a/tests/test-html-base.sh
+++ b/tests/test-html-base.sh
@@ -38,9 +38,9 @@ test_result "$?"
 
 test_opts=(-a -r)
 print_test_descr "TC05"
-dup_cnt=$(test_run_count)
+dup_cnt=$(test_run_basic_count)
 test_opts=(-a)
-uniq_cnt=$(test_run_count)
+uniq_cnt=$(test_run_basic_count)
 #[ ! "$dup_cnt" -gt "$uniq_cnt" ] && echo "duplicates: $dup_cnt -gt $uniq_cnt $?"
 [ ! "$dup_cnt" -gt "$uniq_cnt" ]
 test_result "$?"
diff --git a/tests/test-lib-src.sh b/tests/test-lib-src.sh
index 18eac69..e531738 100644
--- a/tests/test-lib-src.sh
+++ b/tests/test-lib-src.sh
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ echo_with_pid(){
 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Verify test case result and return result and description
 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-function test_result(){
+test_result(){
     retval=1
     [ -n "$2" ] && retval="$2"
     
@@ -27,13 +27,13 @@ function test_result(){
     
 }
 
-function show_color(){
+show_color(){
     while read -r line; do 
         echo -e "\e[01;31m$line\e[0m"
     done
 }
 
-function quote_opts(){
+quote_opts(){
     local str=''
     for o in "$@"; do
         if grep -q "^[-][a-z]" <<<"$o"; then
@@ -48,18 +48,19 @@ function quote_opts(){
 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Run test case
 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-function show_errors(){
+show_errors(){
+	err_pattern='XPath error|No xpath found|Boolean : false'
     if [ "$DBG" -eq 1 ]; then
-        tee /dev/stderr 2> >(show_color) | grep -Eq 'XPath error|No xpath found'
+        tee /dev/stderr 2> >(show_color) | grep -Eq "$err_pattern"
     else
-        grep -Eq 'XPath error|No xpath found'
+        grep -Eq "$err_pattern"
     fi
 }
 
 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# Run test case
+# Print test case description
 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-function print_test_descr(){
+print_test_descr(){
     descr="$1   : ${!1}"
     echo_with_pid "$descr"
     if [ "$DBG" -eq 1 ]; then
@@ -71,19 +72,42 @@ function print_test_descr(){
 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Run test case
 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-function test_run(){
+test_run(){
     if [ ! -f "${test_type_opts[${#test_type_opts[@]} - 1]}" ]; then
         echo_with_pid "ERROR file not found: ${test_type_opts[${#test_type_opts[@]} - 1]}"  | show_color
         exit 1
     fi
-    print_test_descr "$1"
-    print_test_descr "$1" >>"$TRACE_FILE"
+    print_test_descr "$1" | tee -a "$TRACE_FILE"
     ../xml2xpath.sh "${test_opts[@]}" "${test_type_opts[@]}" 2>&1 1>>"$TRACE_FILE" | show_errors
 }
 
+#---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Run count test case
+#---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+test_run_count(){
+	if [ ! -f "${test_type_opts[${#test_type_opts[@]} - 1]}" ]; then
+        echo_with_pid "ERROR file not found: ${test_type_opts[${#test_type_opts[@]} - 1]}"  | show_color
+        exit 1
+    fi
+    print_test_descr "$1" | tee -a "$TRACE_FILE"
+    result=$(../xml2xpath.sh "${test_opts[@]}" "${test_type_opts[@]}")
+	gawk 'BEGIN{RS="\n\n";FS="\n"}
+    {
+        if(NR == 1) printf "%s\n","setrootns"
+        for(i=1; i<=NF; i++) {
+            if($i == "") continue 
+            if($0 ~ /^[^=\/]+=/){
+                printf "%s\n", "setns " $i
+            } else {
+                printf "%s\n", "xpath count(" $i ") > 0"
+            }
+        }
+    }END{ printf "bye\n" }' <<<"$result" | xmllint --shell "${test_type_opts[@]}" 2>&1 | show_errors
+}
+
 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Run test case for duplicates count
 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-function test_run_count(){
+test_run_basic_count(){
     ../xml2xpath.sh "${test_opts[@]}" "${test_type_opts[@]}" | wc -l
 }
diff --git a/tests/test-xml-ns-01.sh b/tests/test-xml-ns-01.sh
index 45f0fb9..5007467 100755
--- a/tests/test-xml-ns-01.sh
+++ b/tests/test-xml-ns-01.sh
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ script_name=$(basename "$0")
 source test-lib-src.sh
 xml_file="resources/HL7.xml"
 test_opts=()
-test_type_opts=(-x "$xml_file")
+test_type_opts=("$xml_file")
 rel_xpath='/defaultns:ClinicalDocument/defaultns:recordTarget'
 
 echo_with_pid "*** XML tests - namespaces on root element ($script_name) ***"
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ TC01="Basic test (-x)"
 TC02="Replace default namespace definition (-o), relative path (-s)"
 TC03="Find nodes using namespaces (-n)"
 TC04="Find nodes by absolute xpath using namespaces (-a -n)"
+TC05="Count nodes with replaced default namespace definition (-o), relative path (-s)"
 
 test_run "TC01"
 test_result "$?"
@@ -40,3 +41,8 @@ test_result "$?"
 test_opts=(-a -n -s "${rel_xpath}")
 test_run "TC04"
 test_result "$?"
+
+test_opts=('-q' '-n' '-o' 'defns=urn:hl7-org:v3' '-s' '//defns:addr')
+#xml2xpath.sh "${test_opts[@]}" -x "$xml_file" | grep -q 'XPath error'
+test_run_count "TC05"
+test_result "$?"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/test-xml-ns-02.sh b/tests/test-xml-ns-02.sh
index c72fa13..11373bb 100755
--- a/tests/test-xml-ns-02.sh
+++ b/tests/test-xml-ns-02.sh
@@ -13,13 +13,14 @@ script_name=$(basename "$0")
 source test-lib-src.sh
 xml_file="resources/soap.xml"
 test_opts=()
-test_type_opts=(-x "$xml_file")
+test_type_opts=("$xml_file")
 rel_xpath='//incident'
 
 echo_with_pid "*** XML tests - Namespaces on root element and body ($script_name) ***"
 # Test case descriptions
 TC01="Basic test (-x)"
 TC02="Replace default namespace definition (-o), relative path (-s)"
+TC04="Test count of nodes found 'TC02' is greater than 0 for all found expressions"
 
 test_run "TC01"
 test_result "$?"
@@ -28,3 +29,9 @@ test_result "$?"
 test_opts=(-o 'defns=http://example.com/ns1' -s "//defns:incident")
 test_run "TC02"
 test_result "$?"
+
+#test_type_opts=("resources/ns-with-default.xml")
+#test_opts=( '-q' '-s' '//*[local-name()="x"]' )
+test_opts=('-q' '-n' '-o' 'defns=http://example.com/ns1' -s "//defns:incident")
+test_run_count "TC04"
+test_result "$?"
diff --git a/tests/test-xml-ns-03.sh b/tests/test-xml-ns-03.sh
index f870141..d258ccd 100755
--- a/tests/test-xml-ns-03.sh
+++ b/tests/test-xml-ns-03.sh
@@ -17,14 +17,14 @@ script_name=$(basename "$0")
 source test-lib-src.sh
 xml_file="resources/html5.html"
 test_opts=()
-test_type_opts=(-x "$xml_file")
+test_type_opts=( "$xml_file" )
 
 echo_with_pid "*** XHTML tests - Namespaces on root element and body. Multiple default namespaces across document. ($script_name) ***"
 # Test case descriptions
 TC01="Basic test (-x)"
 TC02="Replace 'defaultns' prefix (-p)"
 TC03="Replace default namespace definition (-o), relative path (-s)"
-
+TC04="Test count of nodes TC03 is greater than 0 for all found expressions"
 
 test_run "TC01"
 test_result "$?"
@@ -40,3 +40,6 @@ test_opts=(-o 'dft01=http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML' -s '//dft01:math/dft01:
 test_run "TC03"
 test_result "$?"
 
+test_opts=("-q" '-n' "-o" 'dft01=http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML' -s '//dft01:math/dft01:mrow/dft01:mn')
+test_run_count "TC04"
+test_result "$?"
diff --git a/xml2xpath.sh b/xml2xpath.sh
index 6021b91..c72b48e 100755
--- a/xml2xpath.sh
+++ b/xml2xpath.sh
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 # 
 
 script_name=$(basename "$0")
-version="0.12.2"
+version="0.12.3"
 
 if [ -f "VERSION" ];then
 	read -r version < VERSION
@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@ abs_path=0
 print_tree=0
 quiet=0
 max_elements=1100000
+use_ns=0
 uniq_xp=1
 ns_prefix=''
 defns=''
@@ -195,25 +196,6 @@ is_read_error(){
     return "$1"
 }
 
-#---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# Parse namespaces from 'ls /*/namespace::*'
-#   n        1 default -> http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml
-# to
-#   default=http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml
-#---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-parse_ns_from_xpath(){
-    
-    while read -r -u 3 -t "$rtout" xline || is_read_error "$?" "(parse ns stage1)"; do 
-        printf "%s\n" "$xline"
-        if [ "$xline" == "/ > dir $xuuid" ]; then
-            break 
-        fi 
-    done | sed -E -e :a -e '/^[1-9]/,/^(default|namespace)/ { $!N;s/\n(default|namespace)/¦\1/;ta }' \
-                  -e 's/^([0-9]{1,8}) *ELEMENT *([^ ]*)/\1¦\2/' \
-                  -e 's/(default)? ?namespace ([a-z0-9]+)? ?href=([^=]+)¦?/\1\2=\3/g' \
-                  -e '/^[1-9]/ P;D'
-}
-
 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Sent xmllint shell commands to running instance
 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -253,27 +235,17 @@ get_xml_tree(){
         
         # send commands to xmllint shell
         set_root_ns >&4
-
-        if [ "$isHtml" -eq 0 ]; then
-            # xpath command contains namespace declaration at the node
-            #   so it will be used to make a lookup array since it provides element index.
-            send_cmd "xpath //*"
-            send_cmd "dir $xuuid"
-            parse_ns_from_xpath
-            send_cmd "dir $xuuid"
-            print_response "$max_elements" "(ns stage1)"
-            
-        else
-            send_cmd "\ndir $xuuid"
-            print_response 2 "(ns stage)"
-        fi
        
         # namespaces at root element
         send_cmd "ls /*/namespace::*[local-name()!='xml' and namespace-uri()!='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml']"
         send_cmd "dir $xuuid"
         print_response "$max_elements" "(ns stage2)"
         # namespaces at root element descendants. Provides full length uris.
-        send_cmd "ls /*//*/namespace::*[local-name()!='xml'][count(./parent::*/namespace::*[local-name()!='xml'])]"
+        child_ns_xpath="ls /*//*/namespace::*[local-name()!='xml'][count(./parent::*/namespace::*[local-name()!='xml'])]"
+        if [ "$use_ns" -eq 0 ];then
+        	child_ns_xpath="ls /*/namespace::*[local-name()='$xuuid']"
+        fi
+        send_cmd "$child_ns_xpath"
         send_cmd "dir $xuuid"
         print_response "$max_elements" "(ns stage2)"
         
@@ -303,7 +275,7 @@ set_root_ns(){
         if [ -n "$defns" ] ;then
             echo "setns defaultns="
             OLD_IFS="$IFS"
-            IFS=$'¦' read -r -a extns <<<"$defns"
+            IFS=$'' read -r -a extns <<<"$defns"
             IFS=$"$OLD_IFS"
             for n in "${extns[@]}"; do
                 echo "setns $n"
@@ -328,7 +300,7 @@ make_unique_ns_arr(){
                 elif [ "$ni" -gt 0 ]; then
                     echo "${nsxx}${ni}=${name_uri##*=}"
                 else
-                    echo "${nsxx}=${name_uri##*=}"
+                    echo "${nsxx}${ni}=${name_uri##*=}"
                 fi
                 ((ni=ni+1))
                 ;;
@@ -405,7 +377,7 @@ print_all_xpath(){
 #---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 print_unique_xpath(){
     if [ "$uniq_xp" -eq 1 ] ; then
-        sort_unique_keep_order " "
+        sort_unique_keep_order
     else
         cat
     fi
@@ -447,10 +419,6 @@ init_env(){
     else
         xprefix='/'
     fi
-    
-    if [ "$isHtml" -eq 0 ] && [ -z "$ns_prefix" ];then
-        ns_prefix="defaultns"
-    fi
 
     fifo_in="/tmp/xffin.$$"
     fifo_out="/tmp/xffout.$$"
@@ -492,6 +460,7 @@ do
         ;;
     n|p) [ -n "$OPTARG" ] && ns_prefix=$OPTARG && all_opts[${#all_opts[@]}]="-p ; ns prefix=$ns_prefix"
          [ -z "$ns_prefix" ] && ns_prefix="defaultns" && all_opts[${#all_opts[@]}]="-n ; default ns prefix: $ns_prefix"
+         use_ns=1
         ;;
     q) quiet=1
     	;;
@@ -545,16 +514,15 @@ print_separator "${all_opts[@]}"
 # Get XML namespaces and doc tree with xmllint
 # 'dir $xuuid' kinda NoOp that provides a record separator for awk
 IFS=$'¬' read -r -d '' -a xml_info < <( get_xml_tree | awk -v fs="$fs" -v ers="dir $xuuid\n" 'BEGIN{ RS=ers }{ print $0 fs }'  && printf '\0' )
-
 # Put all found namespaces in array as <prefix>=<uri>
-IFS=$'\n' read -r -d '' -a all_ns_arr < <(printf "%s\n" "${xml_info[2]}" | sed -nE '/^n +1 / s/^n +1 ([^ ]+) -> ([^ ]+)/\1=\2/p')
-IFS=$'\n' read -r -d '' -a root_ns_arr < <(printf "%s\n" "${xml_info[1]}" | sed -nE '/^n +1 / s/^n +1 ([^ ]+) -> ([^ ]+)/\1=\2/p' | sort_unique_keep_order)
+IFS=$'\n' read -r -d '' -a all_ns_arr < <(printf "%s\n" "${xml_info[1]}" | sed -nE '/^n +1 / s/^n +1 ([^ ]+) -> ([^ ]+)/\1=\2/p')
+IFS=$'\n' read -r -d '' -a root_ns_arr < <(printf "%s\n" "${xml_info[0]}" | sed -nE '/^n +1 / s/^n +1 ([^ ]+) -> ([^ ]+)/\1=\2/p' | sort_unique_keep_order)
 root_and_all=( "${root_ns_arr[@]}" )
 root_and_all+=( "${all_ns_arr[@]}" )
 
 declare -a arrns
 #arrns+=( "${root_ns_arr[@]}" )
-arrns[0]="$( for z in "${root_ns_arr[@]}";do [[ "$z" =~ ^default ]] && echo "$z";done)"
+arrns[0]="$( for z in "${root_ns_arr[@]}";do [[ "$z" =~ ^default ]] && echo "$z" | tr -d '[[:space:]]';done)"
 k=1
 while IFS=$'\n' read -r line;do
     #echo "<<< $k $line '$defns'"
@@ -585,17 +553,19 @@ print_separator
 
 IFS=$'\n' read -r -d '' -a unique_ns_arr < <(printf "%s\n" "${root_and_all[@]}" | make_unique_ns_arr | grep -v '^ *$')
 if [ "${#root_ns_arr[@]}" -gt 0 ] || [ "${#unique_ns_arr[@]}" -gt 0 ];then 
-    print_separator "\nOriginal Namespaces:"
+    print_separator "\nOriginal root Namespaces:"
     print_separator "${root_ns_arr[@]}"
-    print_separator
-    print_separator "\nMapped Namespaces:"
-    print_separator "${unique_ns_arr[@]}"
+    if [ -n "$ns_prefix" ];then
+    	print_separator
+	    print_separator "\nMapped Namespaces:"
+	    printf "%s\n" "${unique_ns_arr[@]}" ""
+	fi
 else
     print_separator "\nNamespaces: None\n"
 fi
 print_separator
 
-xml_tree=$(grep -Ev '^ *$|^\/' <<<"${xml_info[3]}")
+xml_tree=$(grep -Ev '^ *$|^\/' <<<"${xml_info[2]}")
 if [ -n "$xml_tree" ];then
     
     # Array with elements like <indent level>¬element, e.g. 3¬thead
@@ -629,15 +599,21 @@ print_separator "\nElements to process (build xpath, add prefix) ${#xml_tree_ilv
                 fi
                 if [ -n "$current_ns" ]; then
                     ns_pfx="$(get_ns_prefix_by_uri "$current_ns")"
-                elif [ -z "$current_ns" ]; then #&& [ -n "$last_dflt_pfx" ]
-                    ns_pfx="$(get_ns_prefix_by_uri "${ns_by_indent_lvl[$prev_lvl]}")"
+                elif [ -z "$current_ns" ]; then
+                	# use uri from -s option if passed
+                	if [ -n "${defns#*=}" ];then
+                		ns_pfx="$(get_ns_prefix_by_uri "${defns#*=}")"
+                	else
+                    	ns_pfx="$(get_ns_prefix_by_uri "${ns_by_indent_lvl[$prev_lvl]}")"
+                    fi
                 fi
+                #printf "%s\n" "$j $indent_lvl $prev_lvl '${arrns[$j]}' '${ns_by_indent_lvl[$indent_lvl]}' '${ns_by_indent_lvl[$prev_lvl]}'"
             else
                 # the element has its own prefix
                 ns_pfx=''
             fi
             # no default namespace declared on current level, reuse previous one
-            if [ -z "${ns_by_indent_lvl[$indent_lvl]}" ];then
+            if [[ -z "${ns_by_indent_lvl[$indent_lvl]}" && -n "${ns_by_indent_lvl[$prev_lvl]}" && "$prev_lvl" -ge 0 ]];then
             	ns_by_indent_lvl[$indent_lvl]="${ns_by_indent_lvl[$prev_lvl]}"
             fi
             if [ -n "$ns_pfx" ];then
@@ -662,7 +638,7 @@ print_separator "\nElements to process (build xpath, add prefix) ${#xml_tree_ilv
             # store current xpath
             xpath_arr[$indent_lvl]="${xpath}"
         fi
-    
+		    
         idx=${#xpath_all[@]}
         xpath_all[$idx]="${xprefix}${xpath}"
     done
@@ -697,7 +673,7 @@ print_separator "\nElements to process (build xpath, add prefix) ${#xml_tree_ilv
         fi
     fi
 else
-    log_error "No xpath found"
+    log_error "No xpath found\n"
     clean_tmp_files
     exit 127
 fi