diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 197738d34..b1b42f291 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -481,9 +481,9 @@ certain elements, and working with and manipulating those elements.
 
 ```ruby
 page.has_selector?('table tr')
-page.has_selector?(:xpath, '//table/tr')
+page.has_selector?(:xpath, './/table/tr')
 
-page.has_xpath?('//table/tr')
+page.has_xpath?('.//table/tr')
 page.has_css?('table tr.foo')
 page.has_content?('foo')
 ```
@@ -495,9 +495,9 @@ You can use these with RSpec's magic matchers:
 
 ```ruby
 expect(page).to have_selector('table tr')
-expect(page).to have_selector(:xpath, '//table/tr')
+expect(page).to have_selector(:xpath, './/table/tr')
 
-expect(page).to have_xpath('//table/tr')
+expect(page).to have_xpath('.//table/tr')
 expect(page).to have_css('table tr.foo')
 expect(page).to have_content('foo')
 ```
@@ -517,7 +517,7 @@ find_link(class: ['some_class', 'some_other_class'], :visible => :all).visible?
 find_button('Send').click
 find_button(value: '1234').click
 
-find(:xpath, "//table/tr").click
+find(:xpath, ".//table/tr").click
 find("#overlay").find("h1").click
 all('a').each { |a| a[:href] }
 ```
@@ -554,7 +554,7 @@ within("li#employee") do
   fill_in 'Name', with: 'Jimmy'
 end
 
-within(:xpath, "//li[@id='employee']") do
+within(:xpath, ".//li[@id='employee']") do
   fill_in 'Name', with: 'Jimmy'
 end
 ```
@@ -807,7 +807,7 @@ module MyModule
   include Capybara::DSL
 
   def login!
-    within(:xpath, "//form[@id='session']") do
+    within(:xpath, ".//form[@id='session']") do
       fill_in 'Email', with: 'user@example.com'
       fill_in 'Password', with: 'password'
     end
@@ -892,16 +892,16 @@ and will always use CSS by default.  If you want to use XPath, you'll need to
 do:
 
 ```ruby
-within(:xpath, '//ul/li') { ... }
-find(:xpath, '//ul/li').text
-find(:xpath, '//li[contains(.//a[@href = "#"]/text(), "foo")]').value
+within(:xpath, './/ul/li') { ... }
+find(:xpath, './/ul/li').text
+find(:xpath, './/li[contains(.//a[@href = "#"]/text(), "foo")]').value
 ```
 
 Alternatively you can set the default selector to XPath:
 
 ```ruby
 Capybara.default_selector = :xpath
-find('//ul/li').text
+find('.//ul/li').text
 ```
 
 Capybara allows you to add custom selectors, which can be very useful if you
diff --git a/lib/capybara/node/finders.rb b/lib/capybara/node/finders.rb
index 3e013388a..643695463 100644
--- a/lib/capybara/node/finders.rb
+++ b/lib/capybara/node/finders.rb
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ module Finders
       # +find+ takes the same options as +all+.
       #
       #     page.find('#foo').find('.bar')
-      #     page.find(:xpath, '//div[contains(., "bar")]')
+      #     page.find(:xpath, './/div[contains(., "bar")]')
       #     page.find('li', text: 'Quox').click_link('Delete')
       #
       # @param (see Capybara::Node::Finders#all)
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ def find_by_id(id, options={}, &optional_filter_block)
       # following statements are equivalent:
       #
       #     page.all(:css, 'a#person_123')
-      #     page.all(:xpath, '//a[@id="person_123"]')
+      #     page.all(:xpath, './/a[@id="person_123"]')
       #
       #
       # If the type of selector is left out, Capybara uses
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ def find_by_id(id, options={}, &optional_filter_block)
       #     page.all("a#person_123")
       #
       #     Capybara.default_selector = :xpath
-      #     page.all('//a[@id="person_123"]')
+      #     page.all('.//a[@id="person_123"]')
       #
       # The set of found elements can further be restricted by specifying
       # options. It's possible to select elements by their text or visibility:
diff --git a/lib/capybara/session.rb b/lib/capybara/session.rb
index 0a4f22b08..fb9c273ab 100644
--- a/lib/capybara/session.rb
+++ b/lib/capybara/session.rb
@@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ def go_forward
     # block, any command to Capybara will be handled as though it were scoped
     # to the given element.
     #
-    #     within(:xpath, '//div[@id="delivery-address"]') do
+    #     within(:xpath, './/div[@id="delivery-address"]') do
     #       fill_in('Street', with: '12 Main Street')
     #     end
     #
diff --git a/spec/basic_node_spec.rb b/spec/basic_node_spec.rb
index 01616ed89..ffa00f053 100644
--- a/spec/basic_node_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/basic_node_spec.rb
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@
 
     it "allows using custom matchers" do
       Capybara.add_selector :lifeform do
-        xpath { |name| "//option[contains(.,'#{name}')]" }
+        xpath { |name| ".//option[contains(.,'#{name}')]" }
       end
       expect(string).to have_selector(:id, "page")
       expect(string).not_to have_selector(:id, 'does-not-exist')