XPath Tutorial

XPath is used to navigate through elements and attributes in an XML

document.

XPath is a major element in W3C's XSLT standard - and XQuery and XPointer are
both built on XPath expressions.

XPath Reference
At W3Schools you will find a complete reference of all the built-in functions in XPath 2.0,
XQuery 1.0 and XSLT 2.0.

XPath Functions

Table of Contents
XPath Introduction
This chapter explains what XPath is.

XPath Nodes
This chapter defines the different types of nodes in XPath and the relationship of nodes.

XPath Syntax
This chapter explains the XPath syntax.

XPath Axes
This chapter explains the XPath axes.

XPath Operators
This chapter lists the operators that can be used in XPath expressions.

XPath Examples
This chapter uses the "books.xml" document to demonstrate some XPath examples.

XPath Summary
This chapter contains a summary on what you have learned in this tutorial and a
recommendation on what subject you should study next.
1. XPath Introduction

XPath is a language for finding information in an XML document.

What You Should Already Know

Before you continue you should have a basic understanding of the following:

HTML / XHTML
XML / XML Namespaces

If you want to study these subjects first, find the tutorials on our Home page.

What is XPath?
XPath is a syntax for defining parts of an XML document
XPath uses path expressions to navigate in XML
documents
XPath contains a library of standard functions
XPath is a major element in XSLT
XPath is a W3C recommendation

XPath Path Expressions

XPath uses path expressions to select nodes or node-sets in an XML document. These
path expressions look very much like the expressions you see when you work with a
traditional computer file system.

XPath Standard Functions

XPath includes over 100 built-in functions. There are functions for string values, numeric
values, date and time comparison, node and QName manipulation, sequence
manipulation, Boolean values, and more.
XPath is Used in XSLT
XPath is a major element in the XSLT standard. Without XPath knowledge you will not be
able to create XSLT documents.

You can read more about XSLT in our XSLT tutorial.

XQuery and XPointer are both built on XPath expressions. XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0
share the same data model and support the same functions and operators.

You can read more about XQuery in our XQuery tutorial.

XPATH is a W3C Recommendation

XPath became a W3C Recommendation 16. November 1999.

XPath was designed to be used by XSLT, XPointer and other XML parsing software.
2. XPath Nodes

XPath Terminology
Nodes

In XPath, there are seven kinds of nodes: element, attribute, text, namespace,
processing-instruction, comment, and document nodes.

XML documents are treated as trees of nodes. The topmost element of the tree is called
the root element.

Look at the following XML document:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

< bookstore>
< book>
<title lang="en">Harry Potter</title>
<author>J K. Rowling</author>
< year>2005</year>
<price>29.99</price>
< /book>
</bookstore>

Example of nodes in the XML document above:

<bookstore> (root element node)

< author>J K. Rowling</author> (element node)

lang="en" (attribute node)

Atomic values
Atomic values are nodes with no children or parent.

Example of atomic values:

J K. Rowling

"en"
Items

Items are atomic values or nodes.

Relationship of Nodes
Parent

Each element and attribute has one parent.

In the following example; the book element is the parent of the title, author, year, and
price:

<book>
<title>Harry Potter</title>
<author>J K. Rowling</author>
<year>2005</year>
<price>29.99</price>
< /book>

Children

Element nodes may have zero, one or more children.

In the following example; the title, author, year, and price elements are all children of
the book element:

<book>
<title>Harry Potter</title>
<author>J K. Rowling</author>
<year>2005</year>
<price>29.99</price>
< /book>

Siblings

Nodes that have the same parent.

In the following example; the title, author, year, and price elements are all siblings:

<book>
<title>Harry Potter</title>
<author>J K. Rowling</author>
<year>2005</year>
<price>29.99</price>
< /book>
Ancestors

A node's parent, parent's parent, etc.

In the following example; the ancestors of the title element are the book element and the
bookstore element:

<bookstore>

< book>
<title>Harry Potter</title>
<author>J K. Rowling</author>
<year>2005</year>
<price>29.99</price>
< /book>

< /bookstore>

Descendants

A node's children, children's children, etc.

In the following example; descendants of the bookstore element are the book, title,
author, year, and price elements:

<bookstore>

< book>
<title>Harry Potter</title>
<author>J K. Rowling</author>
<year>2005</year>
<price>29.99</price>
< /book>

< /bookstore>
3. XPath Syntax

XPath uses path expressions to select nodes or node-sets in an XML document. The
node is selected by following a path or steps.

The XML Example Document

We will use the following XML document in the examples below.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

< bookstore>

< book>
< title lang="eng">Harry Potter</title>
< price>29.99</price>
< /book>

< book>
< title lang="eng">Learning XML</title>
< price>39.95</price>
< /book>

< /bookstore>

Selecting Nodes
XPath uses path expressions to select nodes in an XML document. The node is selected
by following a path or steps. The most useful path expressions are listed below:

Expression Description

nodename Selects all nodes with the name "nodename"

/ Selects from the root node

Selects nodes in the document from the current node that match
//
the selection no matter where they are

. Selects the current node

.. Selects the parent of the current node

@ Selects attributes

In the table below we have listed some path expressions and the result of the
expressions:

Path Expression Result

bookstore Selects all nodes with the name "bookstore"

Selects the root element bookstore

/bookstore
Note: If the path starts with a slash ( / ) it always represents an
absolute path to an element!
bookstore/book Selects all book elements that are children of bookstore

Selects all book elements no matter where they are in the

//book
document

Selects all book elements that are descendant of the bookstore

bookstore//book
element, no matter where they are under the bookstore element

//@lang Selects all attributes that are named lang

Predicates
Predicates are used to find a specific node or a node that contains a specific value.

Predicates are always embedded in square brackets.

In the table below we have listed some path expressions with predicates and the result of
the expressions:

Path Expression Result

Selects the first book element that is the child of the

bookstore element.

/bookstore/book[1]
Note: In IE 5,6,7,8,9 first node is[0], but according
to W3C, it is [1]. To solve this problem in IE, set the
SelectionLanguage to XPath:
 In JavaScript:
xml.setProperty("SelectionLanguage","XPath");

Selects the last book element that is the child of the

/bookstore/book[last()]
bookstore element

Selects the last but one book element that is the

/bookstore/book[last()-1]
child of the bookstore element

Selects the first two book elements that are children

/bookstore/book[position()<3]
of the bookstore element

Selects all the title elements that have an attribute

//title[@lang]
named lang

Selects all the title elements that have an attribute

//title[@lang='eng']
named lang with a value of 'eng'

Selects all the book elements of the bookstore

/bookstore/book[price>35.00] element that have a price element with a value
greater than 35.00

Selects all the title elements of the book elements of

/bookstore/book[price>35.00]/title the bookstore element that have a price element with
a value greater than 35.00

Selecting Unknown Nodes

XPath wildcards can be used to select unknown XML elements.

Wildcard Description

* Matches any element node

@* Matches any attribute node

node() Matches any node of any kind

In the table below we have listed some path expressions and the result of the
expressions:

Path Expression Result

/bookstore/* Selects all the child nodes of the bookstore element

//* Selects all elements in the document

//title[@*] Selects all title elements which have any attribute

Selecting Several Paths

By using the | operator in an XPath expression you can select several paths.

In the table below we have listed some path expressions and the result of the
expressions:

Path Expression Result

Selects all the title AND price elements of all book

//book/title | //book/price
elements

Selects all the title AND price elements in the

//title | //price
document

Selects all the title elements of the book element of

/bookstore/book/title | //price the bookstore element AND all the price elements in
the document
4. XPath Axes

The XML Example Document

We will use the following XML document in the examples below.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

< bookstore>

< book>
<title lang="eng">Harry Potter</title>
<price>29.99</price>
< /book>

< book>
<title lang="eng">Learning XML</title>
<price>39.95</price>
< /book>

< /bookstore>

XPath Axes
An axis defines a node-set relative to the current node.

AxisName Result

Selects all ancestors (parent, grandparent, etc.) of the

ancestor
current node

Selects all ancestors (parent, grandparent, etc.) of the

ancestor-or-self
current node and the current node itself

attribute Selects all attributes of the current node

child Selects all children of the current node

Selects all descendants (children, grandchildren, etc.)

descendant
of the current node

descendant-or-self Selects all descendants (children, grandchildren, etc.)

 of the current node and the current node itself

Selects everything in the document after the closing

following
tag of the current node

following-sibling Selects all siblings after the current node

namespace Selects all namespace nodes of the current node

parent Selects the parent of the current node

Selects all nodes that appear before the current node

preceding in the document, except ancestors, attribute nodes and
namespace nodes

preceding-sibling Selects all siblings before the current node

self Selects the current node

Location Path Expression

A location path can be absolute or relative.

An absolute location path starts with a slash ( / ) and a relative location path does not. In
both cases the location path consists of one or more steps, each separated by a slash:

An absolute location path:

/step/step/...

A relative location path:

step/step/...

Each step is evaluated against the nodes in the current node-set.

A step consists of:

an axis (defines the tree-relationship between the selected nodes and the current
node)
a node-test (identifies a node within an axis)
zero or more predicates (to further refine the selected node-set)

The syntax for a location step is:

axisname::nodetest[predicate]

Examples
Example Result

Selects all book nodes that are children of the current

child::book
node

attribute::lang Selects the lang attribute of the current node

child::* Selects all element children of the current node

attribute::* Selects all attributes of the current node

child::text() Selects all text node children of the current node

child::node() Selects all children of the current node

descendant::book Selects all book descendants of the current node

ancestor::book Selects all book ancestors of the current node

Selects all book ancestors of the current node - and

ancestor-or-self::book
the current as well if it is a book node

child::*/child::price Selects all price grandchildren of the current node

5. XPath Operators

An XPath expression returns either a node-set, a string, a Boolean, or a number.

XPath Operators
Below is a list of the operators that can be used in XPath expressions:

Operator Description Example

| Computes two node-sets //book | //cd

+ Addition 6+4

- Subtraction 6-4

* Multiplication 6*4

div Division 8 div 4

= Equal price=9.80

!= Not equal price!=9.80

< Less than price<9.80

<= Less than or equal to price<=9.80

> Greater than price>9.80

>= Greater than or equal to price>=9.80

or or price=9.80 or price=9.70

and and price>9.00 and price<9.90

mod Modulus (division remainder) 5 mod 2

6. XPath Examples

The XML Example Document

We will use the following XML document in the examples below. "books.xml":

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8""?>

< bookstore>

< book category="COOKING">

< title lang="en">Everyday Italian</title>
< author>Giada De Laurentiis</author>
< year>2005</year>
< price>30.00</price>
< /book>

< book category="CHILDREN">

< title lang="en">Harry Potter</title>
< author>J K. Rowling</author>
< year>2005</year>
< price>29.99</price>
< /book>

< book category="WEB">

< title lang="en">XQuery Kick Start</title>
< author>James McGovern</author>
< author>Per Bothner</author>
< author>Kurt Cagle</author>
< author>James Linn</author>
< author>Vaidyanathan Nagarajan</author>
< year>2003</year>
< price>49.99</price>
< /book>

< book category="WEB">

< title lang="en">Learning XML</title>
< author>Erik T. Ray</author>
< year>2003</year>
< price>39.95</price>
< /book>

< /bookstore>

View the "books.xml" file in your browser.

Loading the XML Document
Using XMLHttpRequest to load XML documents is supported in all modern browsers.

Code for most modern browsers:

var xmlhttp=new XMLHttpRequest()

Code for old Microsoft browsers (IE 5 and 6):

var xmlhttp=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP")

Selecting Nodes
Unfortunately, there are different ways of dealing with XPath in Internet Explorer and
other browsers.

In our examples we have included code that should work with most major browsers.

Internet Explorer uses the selectNodes() method to select nodes from the XML
document:

xmlDoc.selectNodes(xpath);

Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Safari use the evaluate() method to select nodes from the
XML document:

xmlDoc.evaluate(xpath, xmlDoc, null, XPathResult.ANY_TYPE,null);

Select all the titles

The following example selects all the title nodes:

Example
/bookstore/book/title
Select the title of the first book
The following example selects the title of the first book node under the bookstore
element:

Example
/bookstore/book[1]/title

Select all the prices

The following example selects the text from all the price nodes:

Example
/bookstore/book/price[text()]

Select price nodes with price>35

The following example selects all the price nodes with a price higher than 35:

Example
/bookstore/book[price>35]/price

Select title nodes with price>35

The following example selects all the title nodes with a price higher than 35:

Example
/bookstore/book[price>35]/title
7. You Have Learned XPath, Now What?

XPath Summary
This tutorial has taught you how to find information in an XML document.

You have learned how to use XPath to navigate through elements and attributes in an
XML document.

You have also learned how to use some of the standard functions that are built-in in
XPath.

For more information on XPath, please look at our XPath Reference.

Now You Know XPath, What's Next?

The next step is to learn about XSLT, XQuery, XLink, and XPointer.

XSLT

XSLT is the style sheet language for XML files.

With XSLT you can transform XML documents into other formats, like XHTML.

If you want to learn more about XSLT, please visit our XSLT tutorial.

XQuery

XQuery is about querying XML data.

XQuery is designed to query anything that can appear as XML, including databases.

If you want to learn more about XQuery, please visit our XQuery tutorial.
8. XPath, XQuery, and XSLT Functions

The following reference library defines the functions required for XPath 2.0, XQuery
1.0 and XSLT 2.0.

Functions Reference
Accessor AnyURI
Node
Error and Trace Boolean
Sequence
Numeric Duration/Date/Time
Context
String QName

The default prefix for the function namespace is fn:

The URI of the function namespace is: http://www.w3.org/2005/xpath-functions

Accessor Functions
Name Description

fn:node-name(node) Returns the node-name of the argument node

Returns a Boolean value indicating whether the

fn:nilled(node)
argument node is nilled

Takes a sequence of items and returns a

fn:data(item.item,...)
sequence of atomic values

fn:base-uri() Returns the value of the base-uri property of the

fn:base-uri(node) current or specified node

Returns the value of the document-uri property

fn:document-uri(node)
for the specified node

Error and Trace Functions

Name Description

fn:error()
Example:
fn:error(error)
error(fn:QName('http://example.com/test',
fn:error(error,description)
fn:error(error,description,error-object) 'err:toohigh'), 'Error: Price is too high')

Result: Returns
http://example.com/test#toohigh and the string
"Error: Price is too high" to the external
processing environment
fn:trace(value,label) Used to debug queries

Functions on Numeric Values

Name Description

Returns the numeric value of the argument. The

argument could be a boolean, string, or node-set
fn:number(arg)
Example: number('100')
Result: 100
Returns the absolute value of the argument

Example: abs(3.14)
fn:abs(num) Result: 3.14

Example: abs(-3.14)
Result: 3.14
Returns the smallest integer that is greater than
the number argument
fn:ceiling(num)
Example: ceiling(3.14)
Result: 4
Returns the largest integer that is not greater
than the number argument
fn:floor(num)
Example: floor(3.14)
Result: 3
Rounds the number argument to the nearest
integer
fn:round(num)

Example: round(3.14)
Result: 3
Example: round-half-to-even(0.5)
Result: 0
fn:round-half-to-even()
Example: round-half-to-even(1.5)
Result: 2
 Example: round-half-to-even(2.5)
Result: 2

Functions on Strings
Name Description

Returns the string value of the argument. The

argument could be a number, boolean, or node-
fn:string(arg) set

Example: string(314)
Result: "314"
Returns a string from a sequence of code points

fn:codepoints-to-string(int,int,...) Example: codepoints-to-string(84, 104, 233,

114, 232, 115, 101)
Result: 'Thrse'
Returns a sequence of code points from a string
fn:string-to-codepoints(string)
Example: string-to-codepoints("Thrse")
Result: 84, 104, 233, 114, 232, 115, 101
Returns true if the value of comp1 is equal to the
value of comp2, according to the Unicode code
point collation
fn:codepoint-equal(comp1,comp2)
(http://www.w3.org/2005/02/xpath-
functions/collation/codepoint), otherwise it
returns false

Returns -1 if comp1 is less than comp2, 0 if

comp1 is equal to comp2, or 1 if comp1 is
fn:compare(comp1,comp2) greater than comp2 (according to the rules of
fn:compare(comp1,comp2,collation) the collation that is used)

Example: compare('ghi', 'ghi')

Result: 0
Returns the concatenation of the strings
fn:concat(string,string,...)
Example: concat('XPath ','is ','FUN!')
Result: 'XPath is FUN!'
Returns a string created by concatenating the
string arguments and using the sep argument as
fn:string-join((string,string,...),sep) the separator

Example: string-join(('We', 'are', 'having', 'fun!'),

' ')
 Result: ' We are having fun! '

Example: string-join(('We', 'are', 'having',

'fun!'))
Result: 'Wearehavingfun!'

Example:string-join((), 'sep')
Result: ''
Returns the substring from the start position to
the specified length. Index of the first character
is 1. If length is omitted it returns the substring
from the start position to the end
fn:substring(string,start,len)
fn:substring(string,start) Example: substring('Beatles',1,4)
Result: 'Beat'

Example: substring('Beatles',2)
Result: 'eatles'
Returns the length of the specified string. If
there is no string argument it returns the length
fn:string-length(string)
of the string value of the current node
fn:string-length()

Example: string-length('Beatles')
Result: 7
Removes leading and trailing spaces from the
specified string, and replaces all internal
sequences of white space with one and returns
fn:normalize-space(string)
the result. If there is no string argument it does
fn:normalize-space()
the same on the current node

Example: normalize-space(' The XML ')

Result: 'The XML'
fn:normalize-unicode()

Converts the string argument to upper-case

fn:upper-case(string)
Example: upper-case('The XML')
Result: 'THE XML'
Converts the string argument to lower-case
fn:lower-case(string)
Example: lower-case('The XML')
Result: 'the xml'
Converts string1 by replacing the characters in
fn:translate(string1,string2,string3)
string2 with the characters in string3
 Example: translate('12:30','30','45')
Result: '12:45'

Example: translate('12:30','03','54')
Result: '12:45'

Example: translate('12:30','0123','abcd')
Result: 'bc:da'
Example: escape-
uri("http://example.com/test#car", true())
Result:
"http%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Ftest#car"

Example: escape-
fn:escape-uri(stringURI,esc-res)
uri("http://example.com/test#car", false())
Result: "http://example.com/test#car"

Example: escape-uri
("http://example.com/~bb", false())
Result:
"http://example.com/~b%C3%A9b%C3%A9"
Returns true if string1 contains string2,
otherwise it returns false
fn:contains(string1,string2)

Example: contains('XML','XM')
Result: true
Returns true if string1 starts with string2,
otherwise it returns false
fn:starts-with(string1,string2)
Example: starts-with('XML','X')
Result: true
Returns true if string1 ends with string2,
otherwise it returns false
fn:ends-with(string1,string2)
Example: ends-with('XML','X')
Result: false
Returns the start of string1 before string2 occurs
in it
fn:substring-before(string1,string2)

Example: substring-before('12/10','/')
Result: '12'
Returns the remainder of string1 after string2
fn:substring-after(string1,string2)
occurs in it
 Example: substring-after('12/10','/')
Result: '10'
Returns true if the string argument matches the
pattern, otherwise, it returns false
fn:matches(string,pattern)
Example: matches("Merano", "ran")
Result: true
Returns a string that is created by replacing the
given pattern with the replace argument

fn:replace(string,pattern,replace) Example: replace("Bella Italia", "l", "*")

Result: 'Be**a Ita*ia'

Example: replace("Bella Italia", "l", "")

Result: 'Bea Itaia'
Example: tokenize("XPath is fun", "\s+")
fn:tokenize(string,pattern)
Result: ("XPath", "is", "fun")

Functions for anyURI

Name Description

fn:resolve-uri(relative,base)

Functions on Boolean Values

Name Description

Returns a boolean value for a number, string, or

fn:boolean(arg)
node-set

The argument is first reduced to a boolean value

by applying the boolean() function. Returns true
if the boolean value is false, and false if the
fn:not(arg)
boolean value is true

Example: not(true())
Result: false
Returns the boolean value true
fn:true()
Example: true()
Result: true
Returns the boolean value false
fn:false()
Example: false()
Result: false
Functions on Durations, Dates and Times

Component Extraction Functions on Durations, Dates and Times

Name Description

fn:dateTime(date,time) Converts the arguments to a date and a time

Returns an integer that represents the years

fn:years-from-duration(datetimedur) component in the canonical lexical
representation of the value of the argument

Returns an integer that represents the months

fn:months-from-duration(datetimedur) component in the canonical lexical
representation of the value of the argument

Returns an integer that represents the days

fn:days-from-duration(datetimedur) component in the canonical lexical
representation of the value of the argument

Returns an integer that represents the hours

fn:hours-from-duration(datetimedur) component in the canonical lexical
representation of the value of the argument

Returns an integer that represents the minutes

fn:minutes-from-duration(datetimedur) component in the canonical lexical
representation of the value of the argument

Returns a decimal that represents the seconds

fn:seconds-from-duration(datetimedur) component in the canonical lexical
representation of the value of the argument

Returns an integer that represents the year

component in the localized value of the
argument
fn:year-from-dateTime(datetime)
Example: year-from-
dateTime(xs:dateTime("2005-01-10T12:30-
04:10"))
Result: 2005
Returns an integer that represents the month
component in the localized value of the
fn:month-from-dateTime(datetime) argument

Example: month-from-
dateTime(xs:dateTime("2005-01-10T12:30-
 04:10"))
Result: 01
Returns an integer that represents the day
component in the localized value of the
argument
fn:day-from-dateTime(datetime)
Example: day-from-
dateTime(xs:dateTime("2005-01-10T12:30-
04:10"))
Result: 10
Returns an integer that represents the hours
component in the localized value of the
argument
fn:hours-from-dateTime(datetime)
Example: hours-from-
dateTime(xs:dateTime("2005-01-10T12:30-
04:10"))
Result: 12
Returns an integer that represents the minutes
component in the localized value of the
argument
fn:minutes-from-dateTime(datetime)
Example: minutes-from-
dateTime(xs:dateTime("2005-01-10T12:30-
04:10"))
Result: 30
Returns a decimal that represents the seconds
component in the localized value of the
argument
fn:seconds-from-dateTime(datetime)
Example: seconds-from-
dateTime(xs:dateTime("2005-01-10T12:30:00-
04:10"))
Result: 0
Returns the time zone component of the
fn:timezone-from-dateTime(datetime)
argument if any

Returns an integer that represents the year in

the localized value of the argument
fn:year-from-date(date)
Example: year-from-date(xs:date("2005-04-
23"))
Result: 2005
 Returns an integer that represents the month in
the localized value of the argument
fn:month-from-date(date)
Example: month-from-date(xs:date("2005-04-
23"))
Result: 4
Returns an integer that represents the day in the
localized value of the argument
fn:day-from-date(date)
Example: day-from-date(xs:date("2005-04-
23"))
Result: 23
Returns the time zone component of the
fn:timezone-from-date(date)
argument if any

Returns an integer that represents the hours

component in the localized value of the
fn:hours-from-time(time) argument

Example: hours-from-time(xs:time("10:22:00"))
Result: 10
Returns an integer that represents the minutes
component in the localized value of the
argument
fn:minutes-from-time(time)

Example: minutes-from-
time(xs:time("10:22:00"))
Result: 22
Returns an integer that represents the seconds
component in the localized value of the
argument
fn:seconds-from-time(time)

Example: seconds-from-
time(xs:time("10:22:00"))
Result: 0
Returns the time zone component of the
fn:timezone-from-time(time)
argument if any

If the timezone argument is empty, it returns a

fn:adjust-dateTime-to-
dateTime without a timezone. Otherwise, it
timezone(datetime,timezone)
returns a dateTime with a timezone

fn:adjust-date-to-
If the timezone argument is empty, it returns a
timezone(date,timezone)
date without a timezone. Otherwise, it returns a
 date with a timezone

If the timezone argument is empty, it returns a

fn:adjust-time-to-
time without a timezone. Otherwise, it returns a
timezone(time,timezone)
time with a timezone

Functions Related to QNames

Name Description

fn:QName()

fn:local-name-from-QName()

fn:namespace-uri-from-QName()

fn:namespace-uri-for-prefix()

fn:in-scope-prefixes()

fn:resolve-QName()

Functions on Nodes
Name Description

fn:name() Returns the name of the current node or the first

fn:name(nodeset) node in the specified node set

Returns the name of the current node or the first

fn:local-name()
node in the specified node set - without the
fn:local-name(nodeset)
namespace prefix

fn:namespace-uri() Returns the namespace URI of the current node

fn:namespace-uri(nodeset) or the first node in the specified node set

Returns true if the language of the current node

matches the language of the specified language

fn:lang(lang) Example: Lang("en") is true for

<p xml:lang="en">...</p>

Example: Lang("de") is false for

<p xml:lang="en">...</p>
Returns the root of the tree to which the current
fn:root()
node or the specified belongs. This will usually
fn:root(node)
be a document node
Functions on Sequences

General Functions on Sequences

Name Description

Returns the positions within the sequence of

items that are equal to the searchitem
argument

Example: index-of ((15, 40, 25, 40, 10), 40)

Result: (2, 4)
fn:index-of((item,item,...),searchitem)

Example: index-of (("a", "dog", "and", "a",

"duck"), "a")
Result (1, 4)

Example: index-of ((15, 40, 25, 40, 10), 18)

Result: ()
Returns a new sequence constructed from the
value of the item arguments - with the item
specified by the position argument removed

Example: remove(("ab", "cd", "ef"), 0)

fn:remove((item,item,...),position) Result: ("ab", "cd", "ef")

Example: remove(("ab", "cd", "ef"), 1)

Result: ("cd", "ef")

Example: remove(("ab", "cd", "ef"), 4)

Result: ("ab", "cd", "ef")
Returns true if the value of the arguments IS an
empty sequence, otherwise it returns false
fn:empty(item,item,...)
Example: empty(remove(("ab", "cd"), 1))
Result: false
Returns true if the value of the arguments IS
NOT an empty sequence, otherwise it returns
fn:exists(item,item,...) false

Example: exists(remove(("ab"), 1))

Result: false
fn:distinct- Returns only distinct (different) values
values((item,item,...),collation)
Example: distinct-values((1, 2, 3, 1, 2))
 Result: (1, 2, 3)
Returns a new sequence constructed from the
value of the item arguments - with the value of
the inserts argument inserted in the position
specified by the pos argument

Example: insert-before(("ab", "cd"), 0, "gh")

Result: ("gh", "ab", "cd")
fn:insert-
before((item,item,...),pos,inserts)
Example: insert-before(("ab", "cd"), 1, "gh")
Result: ("gh", "ab", "cd")

Example: insert-before(("ab", "cd"), 2, "gh")

Result: ("ab", "gh", "cd")

Example: insert-before(("ab", "cd"), 5, "gh")

Result: ("ab", "cd", "gh")
Returns the reversed order of the items
specified

fn:reverse((item,item,...)) Example: reverse(("ab", "cd", "ef"))

Result: ("ef", "cd", "ab")

Example: reverse(("ab"))
Result: ("ab")
Returns a sequence of items from the position
specified by the start argument and continuing
for the number of items specified by the len
argument. The first item is located at position 1

fn:subsequence((item,item,...),start,len) Example: subsequence(($item1, $item2,

$item3,...), 3)
Result: ($item3, ...)

Example: subsequence(($item1, $item2,

$item3, ...), 2, 2)
Result: ($item2, $item3)
Returns the items in an implementation
fn:unordered((item,item,...))
dependent order

Functions That Test the Cardinality of Sequences

Name Description
 Returns the argument if it contains zero or one
fn:zero-or-one(item,item,...)
items, otherwise it raises an error

Returns the argument if it contains one or more

fn:one-or-more(item,item,...)
items, otherwise it raises an error

Returns the argument if it contains exactly one

fn:exactly-one(item,item,...)
item, otherwise it raises an error

Equals, Union, Intersection and Except

Name Description

fn:deep- Returns true if param1 and param2 are deep-

equal(param1,param2,collation) equal to each other, otherwise it returns false

Aggregate Functions

Name Description

fn:count((item,item,...)) Returns the count of nodes

Returns the average of the argument values

fn:avg((arg,arg,...))
Example: avg((1,2,3))
Result: 2
Returns the argument that is greater than the
others

fn:max((arg,arg,...)) Example: max((1,2,3))

Result: 3

Example: max(('a', 'k'))

Result: 'k'
Returns the argument that is less than the
others

fn:min((arg,arg,...)) Example: min((1,2,3))

Result: 1

Example: min(('a', 'k'))

Result: 'a'
Returns the sum of the numeric value of each
fn:sum(arg,arg,...)
node in the specified node-set
Functions that Generate Sequences

Name Description

Returns a sequence of element nodes that have

fn:id((string,string,...),node) an ID value equal to the value of one or more of
the values specified in the string argument

Returns a sequence of element or attribute

nodes that have an IDREF value equal to the
fn:idref((string,string,...),node)
value of one or more of the values specified in
the string argument

fn:doc(URI)

Returns true if the doc() function returns a

fn:doc-available(URI)
document node, otherwise it returns false

fn:collection()
fn:collection(string)

Context Functions
Name Description

Returns the index position of the node that is

currently being processed
fn:position()

Example: //book[position()<=3]
Result: Selects the first three book elements
Returns the number of items in the processed
node list
fn:last()

Example: //book[last()]
Result: Selects the last book element
fn:current-dateTime() Returns the current dateTime (with timezone)

fn:current-date() Returns the current date (with timezone)

fn:current-time() Returns the current time (with timezone)

fn:implicit-timezone() Returns the value of the implicit timezone

fn:default-collation() Returns the value of the default collation

fn:static-base-uri() Returns the value of the base-uri