XQuery

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 XQuery

About the Tutorial

XQuery is a query-based language to retrieve data stored in the form of XML. XQuery is
to XML what SQL is to a database.

This tutorial covers all the basic components of XQuery with suitable examples.

Audience
This tutorial has been prepared for beginners to help them understand the basic
concepts related to XQuery. It provides enough understanding on XQuery from where
you can take yourself to a higher level of expertise.

Prerequisites
Before proceeding with this tutorial, you should have a basic knowledge of XML and
XPath.

Copyright & Disclaimer

 Copyright 2014 by Tutorials Point (I) Pvt. Ltd.

All the content and graphics published in this e-book are the property of Tutorials Point
(I) Pvt. Ltd. The user of this e-book is prohibited to reuse, retain, copy, distribute or
republish any contents or a part of contents of this e-book in any manner without written
consent of the publisher.

We strive to update the contents of our website and tutorials as timely and as precisely
as possible, however, the contents may contain inaccuracies or errors. Tutorials Point (I)
Pvt. Ltd. provides no guarantee regarding the accuracy, timeliness or completeness of
our website or its contents including this tutorial. If you discover any errors on our
website or in this tutorial, please notify us at [email protected]

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 XQuery

Table of Contents
About the Tutorial ....................................................................................................................................i

Audience ..................................................................................................................................................i

Prerequisites ............................................................................................................................................i

Copyright & Disclaimer .............................................................................................................................i

Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................................ii

1. XQUERY ─ OVERVIEW .......................................................................................................... 1

What is XQuery? .....................................................................................................................................1

Characteristics .........................................................................................................................................1

Benefits of XQuery ..................................................................................................................................1

2. XQUERY ─ ENVIRONMENT SETUP ........................................................................................ 2

Example ..................................................................................................................................................2

Steps to Execute XQuery against XML .....................................................................................................4

3. XQUERY ─ FIRST APPLICATION ............................................................................................. 6

Example ..................................................................................................................................................6

XQuery Expressions .................................................................................................................................7

4. XQUERY ─ FLWOR ................................................................................................................ 9

Example ..................................................................................................................................................9

5. XQUERY ─ HTML FORMAT ................................................................................................. 11

Example ................................................................................................................................................11

6. XQUERY ─ XPATH ............................................................................................................... 14

XPath Examples .....................................................................................................................................14

7. XQUERY ─ SEQUENCES ...................................................................................................... 17

Creating a Sequence ..............................................................................................................................17

Viewing the Items of a Sequence ..........................................................................................................18

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8. XQUERY ─ SEQUENCE FUNCTIONS..................................................................................... 20

XQuery – count Function .......................................................................................................................21

XQuery – sum Function .........................................................................................................................21

XQuery – avg Function ..........................................................................................................................22

XQuery – min Function ..........................................................................................................................23

XQuery – max Function .........................................................................................................................24

XQuery – distinct-values Function .........................................................................................................24

XQuery – subsequence Function ...........................................................................................................25

XQuery – insert-before Function ...........................................................................................................27

XQuery – remove Function ....................................................................................................................28

XQuery – reverse Function ....................................................................................................................29

XQuery – index-of Function ...................................................................................................................30

XQuery – last Function ..........................................................................................................................31

XQuery – position Function ...................................................................................................................32

9. XQUERY ─ STRING FUNCTIONS .......................................................................................... 33

XQuery – string-length Function ............................................................................................................33

XQuery – concat Function .....................................................................................................................34

XQuery – string-join Function ................................................................................................................35

10. XQUERY ─ DATE FUNCTIONS ............................................................................................. 36

XQuery – current-date Function ............................................................................................................36

XQuery – current-time Function ............................................................................................................37

XQuery – current-dateTime Function ....................................................................................................38

11. XQUERY ─ REGULAR EXPRESSIONS .................................................................................... 39

XQuery – matches function ...................................................................................................................39

XQuery – replace function .....................................................................................................................40

XQuery – tokenize Function ..................................................................................................................40

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12. XQUERY ─ IF-THEN-ELSE .................................................................................................... 42

13. XQUERY ─ CUSTOM FUNCTIONS........................................................................................ 44

Example ................................................................................................................................................44

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1. XQuery ─ Overview

What is XQuery?
XQuery is a functional language that is used to retrieve information stored in XML
format. XQuery can be used on XML documents, relational databases containing data in
XML formats, or XML Databases. XQuery 3.0 is a W3C recommendation from April 8,
2014.

The definition of XQuery as given by its official documentation is as follows:

XQuery is a standardized language for combining documents, databases, Web

pages and almost anything else. It is very widely implemented. It is powerful and
easy to learn. XQuery is replacing proprietary middleware languages and Web
Application development languages. XQuery is replacing complex Java or C++
programs with a few lines of code. XQuery is simpler to work with and easier to
maintain than many other alternatives.

Characteristics
 Functional Language ─ XQuery is a language to retrieve/querying XML based
data.

 Analogous to SQL ─ XQuery is to XML what SQL is to databases.

 XPath based ─ XQuery uses XPath expressions to navigate through XML

documents.

 Universally accepted ─ XQuery is supported by all major databases.

 W3C Standard ─ XQuery is a W3C standard.

Benefits of XQuery
 Using XQuery, both hierarchical and tabular data can be retrieved.
 XQuery can be used to query tree and graphical structures.
 XQuery can be directly used to query webpages.
 XQuery can be directly used to build webpages.
 XQuery can be used to transform xml documents.
 XQuery is ideal for XML-based databases and object-based databases. Object
databases are much more flexible and powerful than purely tabular databases.

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2. XQuery ─ Environment Setup

This chapter elaborates how to set up XQuery library in a local development

environment.

We are using an open source standalone XQuery processor Saxon Home Edition (Saxon-
HE) which is widely used. This processor supports XSLT 2.0, XQuery 3.0, and XPath 3.0
and is highly optimized for performance. Saxon XQuery processor can be used without
having any XML database. We'll use a simple XML document as our database in our
examples.

In order to use Saxon XQuery processor, you should have saxon9he.jar, saxon9-test.jar,
saxon9-unpack, saxon9-xqj.jar in your application's classpath. These jar files are
available in the download file SaxonHE9-6-0-1J.zip. Download SaxonHE9-6-0-1J.zip.

Example
We'll use the Java-based Saxon XQuery processor to test books.xqy, a file containing
XQuery expression against our sample XML document, i.e., books.xml.

In this example, we'll see how to write and process a query to get the title elements of
the books whose price is greater than 30.

books.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<books>
<book category="JAVA">
<title lang="en">Learn Java in 24 Hours</title>
<author>Robert</author>
<year>2005</year>
<price>30.00</price>
</book>
<book category="DOTNET">
<title lang="en">Learn .Net in 24 hours</title>
<author>Peter</author>
<year>2011</year>
<price>40.50</price>
</book>
<book category="XML">
<title lang="en">Learn XQuery in 24 hours</title>
<author>Robert</author>
<author>Peter</author>

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<year>2013</year>
<price>50.00</price>
</book>
<book category="XML">
<title lang="en">Learn XPath in 24 hours</title>
<author>Jay Ban</author>
<year>2010</year>
<price>16.50</price>
</book>
</books>

books.xqy
for $x in doc("books.xml")/books/book
where $x/price>30
return $x/title

XQueryTester.java
package com.tutorialspoint.xquery;

import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.InputStream;

import javax.xml.xquery.XQConnection;
import javax.xml.xquery.XQDataSource;
import javax.xml.xquery.XQException;
import javax.xml.xquery.XQPreparedExpression;
import javax.xml.xquery.XQResultSequence;

import com.saxonica.xqj.SaxonXQDataSource;

public class XQueryTester {

public static void main(String[] args){
try {
execute();
} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {

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e.printStackTrace();
} catch (XQException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}

private static void execute() throws FileNotFoundException, XQException{

InputStream inputStream = new FileInputStream(new File("books.xqy"));
XQDataSource ds = new SaxonXQDataSource();
XQConnection conn = ds.getConnection();
XQPreparedExpression exp = conn.prepareExpression(inputStream);
XQResultSequence result = exp.executeQuery();
while (result.next()) {
System.out.println(result.getItemAsString(null));
}
}
}

Steps to Execute XQuery against XML

1. Copy XQueryTester.java to any location, say, E: > java
2. Copy books.xml to the same location, E: > java
3. Copy books.xqy to the same location, E: > java
4. Compile XQueryTester.java using console. Make sure you have JDK 1.5 or later
installed on your machine and classpaths are configured. For details on how to
use JAVA, see our JAVA Tutorial.

E:\java\javac XQueryTester.java

5. Execute XQueryTester

E:\java\java XQueryTester

Output
You'll get the following result:

<title lang="en">Learn .Net in 24 hours</title>

<title lang="en">Learn XQuery in 24 hours</title>

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Understanding the Example

 books.xml represents the sample data.

 books.xqy represents the XQuery expression that is to be executed on books.xml.

We'll understand more about the expression in the next chapter.

 XQueryTester, a Java-based XQuery executor program, reads the books.xqy,

passes it to the XQuery expression processor, and executes the expression. Then
the result is printed.

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3. XQuery ─ First Application

Example
Following is a sample XML document containing the records of a bookstore of various
books.

books.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<books>
<book category="JAVA">
<title lang="en">Learn Java in 24 Hours</title>
<author>Robert</author>
<year>2005</year>
<price>30.00</price>
</book>
<book category="DOTNET">
<title lang="en">Learn .Net in 24 hours</title>
<author>Peter</author>
<year>2011</year>
<price>70.50</price>
</book>
<book category="XML">
<title lang="en">Learn XQuery in 24 hours</title>
<author>Robert</author>
<author>Peter</author>
<year>2013</year>
<price>50.00</price>
</book>
<book category="XML">
<title lang="en">Learn XPath in 24 hours</title>
<author>Jay Ban</author>
<year>2010</year>
<price>16.50</price>
</book>
</books>

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Following is a sample Xquery document containing the query expression to be executed

on the above XML document. The purpose is to get the title elements of those XML
nodes where the price is greater than 30.

books.xqy
for $x in doc("books.xml")/books/book
where $x/price>30
return $x/title

Result
<title lang="en">Learn .Net in 24 hours</title>
<title lang="en">Learn XQuery in 24 hours</title>

Verify the Result

To verify the result, replace the contents of books.xqy (given in the Environment
Setup chapter) with the above XQuery expression and execute the XQueryTester java
program.

XQuery Expressions
Let us understand each piece of the above XQuery expression.

Use of functions
doc("books.xml")

doc() is one of the XQuery functions that is used to locate the XML source. Here we've
passed "books.xml". Considering the relative path, books.xml should lie in the same path
where books.xqy is present.

Use of XPath expressions

doc("books.xml")/books/book

XQuery uses XPath expressions heavily to locate the required portion of XML on which
search is to be made. Here we've chosen all the book nodes available under books node.

Iterate the objects

for $x in doc("books.xml")/books/book

XQuery treats xml data as objects. In the above example, $x represents the selected
node, while the for loop iterates over the collection of nodes.

Apply the condition

where $x/price>30

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As $x represents the selected node, "/" is used to get the value of the required element;
"where" clause is used to put a condition on the search results.

Return the result

return $x/title

As $x represents the selected node, "/" is used to get the value of the required element,
price; "return" clause is used to return the elements from the search results.

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4. XQuery ─ FLWOR

FLWOR is an acronym that stands for "For, Let, Where, Order by, Return". The following
list shows what they account for in a FLWOR expression:

 F - For - Selects a collection of all nodes.

 L - Let - Puts the result in an XQuery variable.
 W - Where - Selects the nodes specified by the condition.
 O - Order by - Orders the nodes specified as per criteria.
 R - Return - Returns the final result.

Example
Following is a sample XML document that contains information on a collection of books.
We will use a FLWOR expression to retrieve the titles of those books with a price greater
than 30.

books.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<books>
<book category="JAVA">
<title lang="en">Learn Java in 24 Hours</title>
<author>Robert</author>
<year>2005</year>
<price>30.00</price>
</book>
<book category="DOTNET">
<title lang="en">Learn .Net in 24 hours</title>
<author>Peter</author>
<year>2011</year>
<price>70.50</price>
</book>
<book category="XML">
<title lang="en">Learn XQuery in 24 hours</title>
<author>Robert</author>
<author>Peter</author>
<year>2013</year>
<price>50.00</price>

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</book>
<book category="XML">
<title lang="en">Learn XPath in 24 hours</title>
<author>Jay Ban</author>
<year>2010</year>
<price>16.50</price>
</book>
</books>

The following Xquery document contains the query expression to be executed on the
above XML document.

books.xqy
let $books := (doc("books.xml")/books/book)
return
{
for $x in $books
where $x/price>30
order by $x/price
return $x/title
}

Result
<title lang="en">Learn XQuery in 24 hours</title>
<title lang="en">Learn .Net in 24 hours</title>

Verify the Result

To verify the result, replace the contents of books.xqy (given in the Environment Setup
chapter) with the above XQuery expression and execute the XQueryTester java program.

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5. XQuery ─ HTML Format

XQuery can also be easily used to transform an XML document into an HTML page. Take
a look at the following example to understand how XQuery does it.

Example
We will use the same books.xml file. The following example uses XQuery extract data
from books.xml and create an HTML table containing the titles of all the books along with
their respective prices.

books.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<books>
<book category="JAVA">
<title lang="en">Learn Java in 24 Hours</title>
<author>Robert</author>
<year>2005</year>
<price>30.00</price>
</book>
<book category="DOTNET">
<title lang="en">Learn .Net in 24 hours</title>
<author>Peter</author>
<year>2011</year>
<price>70.50</price>
</book>
<book category="XML">
<title lang="en">Learn XQuery in 24 hours</title>
<author>Robert</author>
<author>Peter</author>
<year>2013</year>
<price>50.00</price>
</book>
<book category="XML">
<title lang="en">Learn XPath in 24 hours</title>
<author>Jay Ban</author>
<year>2010</year>
<price>16.50</price>

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</book>
</books>

Given below is the Xquery expression that is to be executed on the above XML
document.

books.xqy
let $books := (doc("books.xml")/books/book)
return <table><tr><th>Title</th><th>Price</th></tr>
{
for $x in $books
order by $x/price
return <tr><td>{data($x/title)}</td><td>{data($x/price)}</td></tr>
}
</table>
</results>

Result
<table>
<tr>
<th>Title</th>
<th>Price</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Learn XPath in 24 hours</td>
<td>16.50</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Learn Java in 24 Hours</td>
<td>30.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Learn XQuery in 24 hours</td>
<td>50.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Learn .Net in 24 hours</td>
<td>70.50</td>

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</tr>
</table>

Verify the Result

To verify the result, replace the contents of books.xqy (given in the Environment
Setup chapter) with the above XQuery expression and execute the XQueryTester java
program.

XQuery Expressions
Here we've used the following XQuery expressions:

 data() function to evaluate the value of the title element, and

 {} operator to tell the XQuery processor to consider data() as a function. If {}
operator is not used, then data() will be treated as normal text.

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6. XQuery ─ XPath

XQuery is XPath compliant. It uses XPath expressions to restrict the search results on
XML collections. For more details on how to use XPath, see our XPath Tutorial.

Recall the following XPath expression which we have used earlier to get the list of books.

doc("books.xml")/books/book

XPath Examples
We will use the books.xml file and apply XQuery to it.

books.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<books>
<book category="JAVA">
<title lang="en">Learn Java in 24 Hours</title>
<author>Robert</author>
<year>2005</year>
<price>30.00</price>
</book>
<book category="DOTNET">
<title lang="en">Learn .Net in 24 hours</title>
<author>Peter</author>
<year>2011</year>
<price>40.50</price>
</book>
<book category="XML">
<title lang="en">Learn XQuery in 24 hours</title>
<author>Robert</author>
<author>Peter</author>
<year>2013</year>
<price>50.00</price>
</book>
<book category="XML">
<title lang="en">Learn XPath in 24 hours</title>
<author>Jay Ban</author>
<year>2010</year>

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<price>16.50</price>
</book>
</books>

We have given here three versions of an XQuery statement that fulfil the same objective
of displaying the book titles having a price value greater than 30.

XQuery – Version 1
(: read the entire xml document :)
let $books := doc("books.xml")

for $x in $books/books/book
where $x/price > 30
return $x/title

Output
<title lang="en">Learn .Net in 24 hours</title>
<title lang="en">Learn XQuery in 24 hours</title>

XQuery – Version 2
(: read all books :)
let $books := doc("books.xml")/books/book

for $x in $books
where $x/price > 30
return $x/title

Output
<title lang="en">Learn .Net in 24 hours</title>
<title lang="en">Learn XQuery in 24 hours</title>

XQuery – Version 3
(: read books with price > 30 :)
let $books := doc("books.xml")/books/book[price > 30]

for $x in $books
return $x/title

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Output
<title lang="en">Learn .Net in 24 hours</title>
<title lang="en">Learn XQuery in 24 hours</title>

Verify the Result

To verify the result, replace the contents of books.xqy (given in the Environment Setup
chapter) with the above XQuery expression and execute the XQueryTester java program.

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7. XQuery ─ Sequences

Sequences represent an ordered collection of items where items can be of similar or of

different types.

Creating a Sequence
Sequences are created using parenthesis with strings inside quotes or double quotes and
numbers as such. XML elements can also be used as the items of a sequence.

XQuery Expression
let $items := ('orange', <apple/>, <fruit type="juicy"/>, <vehicle
type="car">sentro</vehicle>, 1,2,3,'a','b',"abc")
let $count := count($items)
return
<result>
<count>{$count}</count>
<items>
{
for $item in $items
return <item>{$item}</item>
}
</items>
</result>

Output
<result>
<count>10</count>
<items>
<item>orange</item>
<item>
<apple/>
</item>
<item>
<fruit type="juicy"/>
</item>
<item>
<vehicle type="car">Sentro</vehicle>

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</item>
<item>1</item>
<item>2</item>
<item>3</item>
<item>a</item>
<item>b</item>
<item>abc</item>
</items>
</result>

Viewing the Items of a Sequence

Items of a sequence can be iterated one by one, using index or by value. The above
example iterated the items of a sequence one by one. Let's see the other two ways in
action.

XQuery Expression (Index)

let $items := (1,2,3,4,5,6)
let $count := count($items)
return
<result>
<count>{$count}</count>
<items>
{
for $item in $items[2]
return <item>{$item}</item>
}
</items>
</result>

Output
<result>
<count>6</count>
<items>
<item>2</item>
</items>
</result>

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XQuery Expression (Value)

let $items := (1,2,3,4,5,6)
let $count := count($items)
return
<result>
<count>{$count}</count>
<items>
{
for $item in $items[. = (1,2,3)]
return <item>{$item}</item>
}
</items>
</result>

Output
<result>
<count>6</count>
<items>
<item>1</item>
<item>2</item>
<item>3</item>
</items>
</result>

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8. XQuery ─ Sequence Functions

The following table lists the commonly used sequence functions provided by XQuery.

S.No. Name & Description

count($seq as item()*)
1
Counts the items in a sequence.

sum($seq as item()*)
2
Returns the sum of the items in a sequence.

avg($seq as item()*)
3
Returns the average of the items in a sequence.

min($seq as item()*)
4
Returns the minimum valued item in a sequence.

max($seq as item()*)
5
Returns the maximum valued item in a sequence.

distinct-values($seq as item()*)
6
Returns select distinct items from a sequence.

subsequence($seq as item()*, $startingLoc as xs:double, $length as

7 xs:double)
Returns a subset of provided sequence.

insert-before($seq as item()*, $position as xs:integer, $inserts as

8 item()*)
Inserts an item in a sequence.

remove($seq as item()*, $position as xs:integer)

9
Removes an item from a sequence.

reverse($seq as item()*)
10
Returns the reversed sequence.

index-of($seq as anyAtomicType()*, $target as anyAtomicType())

11
Returns indexes as integers to indicate availability of an item within a sequence.

last()
12
Returns the last element of a sequence when used in predicate expression.

position()
13
Used in FLOWR expressions to get the position of an item in a sequence.

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XQuery – count Function

The count function is used to count the total items present in a sequence.

Syntax
count($seq as item()*)

Input Parameters
 $seq - provided sequence. A sequence can contain 0 or more items.

Example

XQuery Expression
let $items := (1,2,3,4,5,6)
let $count := count($items)
return
<result>
<count>{$count}</count>
</result>

Output
<result>
<count>6</count>
</result>

Verify the Result

In order to test the above-mentioned functionality, replace the contents of
books.xqy (mentioned in the Environment Setup chapter) with the above XQuery
expression and execute the XQueryTester java program to verify the result.

XQuery – sum Function

The sum function is used to get the sum of total items present in a sequence.

Syntax
sum($seq as item()*)

Input Parameters
 $seq - provided sequence. A sequence can contain 0 or more items.

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Example

XQuery Expression
let $items := (1,2,3,4,5,6)
let $sum := sum($items)
return
<result>
<sum>{$sum}</sum>
</result>

Output
<result>
<sum>21</sum>
</result>

Verify the Result

In order to test the above-mentioned functionality, replace the contents of
books.xqy (mentioned in Environment Setup chapter) with the above XQuery expression
and execute the XQueryTester java program to verify the result.

XQuery – avg Function

The avg function is used to get the average of total items present in a sequence.

Syntax
avg($seq as item()*)

Input Parameters
 $seq - provided sequence. A sequence can contain 0 or more items.

Example

XQuery Expression
let $items := (1,2,3,4,5,6)
let $avg := avg($items)
return
<result>
<avg>{$avg}</avg>
</result>

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Output
<result>
<avg>3.5</avg>
</result>

Verify the Result

In order to test the above-mentioned functionality, replace the contents
of books.xqy (mentioned in Environment Setup chapter) with the above XQuery
expression and execute the XQueryTester java program to verify the result.

XQuery – min Function

The min function is used to get the minimum valued item present in a sequence.

Syntax
min($seq as item()*)

Input Parameters
 $seq - provided sequence. A sequence can contain 0 or more items.

Example

XQuery Expression
let $items := (1,2,3,4,5,6)
let $min := min($items)
return
<result>
<min>{$min}</min>
</result>

Output
<result>
<min>1</min>
</result>

Verify the Result

In order to test the above-mentioned functionality, replace the contents of
books.xqy (mentioned in Environment Setup chapter) with the above XQuery expression
and execute the XQueryTester java program to verify the result.

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XQuery – max Function

The max function is used to get the maximum valued item present in a sequence.

Syntax
max($seq as item()*)

Input Parameters
 $seq - provided sequence. A sequence can contain 0 or more items.

Example

XQuery Expression
let $items := (1,2,3,4,5,6)
let $max := max($items)
return
<result>
<max>{$max}</max>
</result>

Output
<result>
<max>6</max>
</result>

Verify the Result

In order to test the above-mentioned functionality, replace the contents of
books.xqy (mentioned in Environment Setup chapter) with the above XQuery expression
and execute the XQueryTester java program to verify the result.

XQuery – distinct-values Function

The distinct-values function is used to get the sequence containing unique items
present in a given sequence.

Syntax
distinct-values($seq as item()*)

Input Parameters
 $seq - provided sequence. A sequence can contain 0 or more items.

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 XQuery

Example

XQuery Expression
let $items := (1,2,4,4,5,5)
let $unique-items := distinct-values($items)
return
<result>
<items>
{
for $item in $unique-items
return <item>{$item}</item>
}
</items>
</result>

Output
<result>
<items>
<item>1</item>
<item>2</item>
<item>4</item>
<item>5</item>
</items>
</result>

Verify the Result

In order to test the above-mentioned functionality, replace the contents
of books.xqy (mentioned in Environment Setup chapter) with the above XQuery
expression and execute the XQueryTester java program to verify the result.

XQuery – subsequence Function

The subsequence function is used to get the sequence containing requested items
present in a given sequence.

Syntax
subsequence($seq as item()*, $startingLoc as xs:double, $length as xs:double)

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 XQuery

Input Parameters
 $seq - provided sequence. Sequence can contain 0 or more items.
 $startingLoc - index of items from which sub-sequence is to be created. Index
starts from 1.

 $length - length of subsequence.

Example

XQuery Expression
let $items := (1,2,3,4,5,6)
let $sub-items := subsequence($items,2,4)
return
<result>
<items>
{
for $item in $sub-items
return <item>{$item}</item>
}
</items>
</result>

Output
<result>
<items>
<item>2</item>
<item>3</item>
<item>4</item>
<item>5</item>
</items>
</result>

Verify the Result

In order to test the above-mentioned functionality, replace the contents
of books.xqy (mentioned in Environment Setup chapter) with the above XQuery
expression and execute the XQueryTester java program to verify the result.

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 XQuery

XQuery – insert-before Function

The insert-before function is used to insert an item in a given sequence at any position.
This function returns the modified sequence but the original sequence is not altered.

Syntax
insert-before($seq as item()*, $position as xs:integer, $inserts as item()*)

Input Parameters
 $seq - provided sequence. Sequence can contain 0 or more items.
 $position - index of item where it is to be inserted. Index starts from 1.
 $inserts - zero or more items to be inserted.

Example

XQuery Expression
let $items := (1,2,3,4,5,9)
let $additional-items := (6,7,8)
let $new-items := insert-before($items,6,$additional-items)
return
<result>
<items>
{
for $item in $new-items
return >item>{$item}>/item>
}
</items>
</result>

Output
<result>
<items>
<item>1</item>
<item>2</item>
<item>3</item>
<item>4</item>
<item>5</item>
<item>6</item>

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 XQuery

<item>7</item>
<item>8</item>
<item>9</item>
</items>
</result>

Verify the Result

In order to test the above-mentioned functionality, replace the contents
of books.xqy (mentioned in Environment Setup chapter) with the above XQuery
expression and execute the XQueryTester java program to verify the result.

XQuery – remove Function

The remove function is used to remove an item in a given sequence from any position.
This function returns the modified sequence but the original sequence is not altered.

Syntax
remove($seq as item()*, $position as xs:integer)

Input Parameters
 $seq - provided sequence. Sequence can contain 0 or more items.
 $position - index of item where it is to be removed. Index starts from 1.

Example

XQuery Expression
let $items := (1,2,3,4,5,6)
let $new-items := remove($items,4)
return
<result>
<items>
{
for $item in $new-items
return <item>{$item}</item>
}
</items>
</result>

Output

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 XQuery

<result>
<items>
<item>1</item>
<item>2</item>
<item>3</item>
<item>5</item>
<item>6</item>
</items>
</result>

Verify the Result

In order to test the above-mentioned functionality, replace the contents of
books.xqy (mentioned in Environment Setup chapter) with the above XQuery expression
and execute the XQueryTester java program to verify the result.

XQuery – reverse Function

The reverse function is used to reverse the given sequence. This function returns the
modified sequence but the original sequence is not altered.

Syntax
reverse($seq as item()*)

Input Parameters
 $seq - provided sequence. Sequence can contain 0 or more items.

Example

XQuery Expression
let $items := (1,2,3,4,5,6)
let $new-items := reverse($items)
return
<result>
<items>
{
for $item in $new-items
return <item>{$item}</item>
}
</items>

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 XQuery

</result>

Output
<result>
<items>
<item>6</item>
<item>5</item>
<item>4</item>
<item>3</item>
<item>2</item>
<item>1</item>
</items>
</result>

Verify the Result

In order to test the above-mentioned functionality, replace the contents
of books.xqy (mentioned in Environment Setup chapter) with the above XQuery
expression and execute the XQueryTester java program to verify the result.

XQuery – index-of Function

The index-of function is used to track items in the given sequence. It returns integers
to indicate the availability of items in a given sequence.

Syntax
index-of($seq as anyAtomicType()*, $target as anyAtomicType())

Input Parameters
 $seq - provided sequence. Sequence can contain 0 or more items.
 $target - item whose index is to be returned.

Example

XQuery Expression

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 XQuery

let $items := (1,2,3,4,5,6)

let $indexOf := index-of($items,4)
return
<result>
<indexof>{$indexOf}</indexof>
</result>

Output
<result>
return <indexof>4</indexof>
</result>

Verify the Result

In order to test the above-mentioned functionality, replace the contents
of books.xqy (mentioned in Environment Setup chapter) with the above XQuery
expression and execute the XQueryTester java program to verify the result.

XQuery – last Function

The last function is used to get the last item in the given sequence.

Syntax
last()

Example

XQuery Expression
let $items := (1,2,3,4,5,6)
let $lastElement := $items[last()]
return
<result>
<lastElement>{$lastElement}</lastElement>
</result>

Output
<result>
<lastElement>6</lastElement>
</result>

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 XQuery

Verify the Result

In order to test the above-mentioned functionality, replace the contents
of books.xqy (mentioned in Environment Setup chapter) with the above XQuery
expression and execute the XQueryTester java program to verify the result.

XQuery – position Function

The position function is used in FLOWR expression to get the position of an item in a
sequence.

Syntax
position()

Example

XQuery Expression
let $items := (1,2,3,4,5,6)
return
<result>
<items>
{
for $item in $items[position() mod 2 eq 1]
return <item>{$item}</item>
}
</items>
</result>

Output
<result>
<items>
<item>1</item>
<item>3</item>
<item>5</item>
</items>
</result>

Verify the Result

In order to test the above-mentioned functionality, replace the contents
of books.xqy (mentioned in Environment Setup chapter) with the above XQuery
expression and execute the XQueryTester java program to verify the result.

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 XQuery

9. XQuery ─ String Functions

The following table lists the commonly used string manipulation functions provided by XQuery.

S.No. Name & Description

string-length($string as xs:string) as xs:integer

1
Returns the length of the string.

concat($input as xs:anyAtomicType?) as xs:string

2
Returns the concatenated string as output.

string-join($sequence as xs:string*, $delimiter as xs:string) as

3 xs:string
Returns the combination of items in a sequence separated by a delimiter.

XQuery – string-length Function

The string-length function is used to get the length of a string.

Syntax
string-length($string as xs:string) as xs:integer

Input Parameters
 $string - provided string.

Example

XQuery Expression
let $bookTitle := "Learn XQuery in 24 hours"
let $size := string-length($bookTitle)

return
<result>
<size>{$size}</size>
</result>

Output
<result>
<size>24</size>
</result>

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 XQuery

Verify the Result

In order to test the above-mentioned functionality, replace the contents
of books.xqy (mentioned in Environment Setup chapter) with the above XQuery
expression and execute the XQueryTester java program to verify the result.

XQuery – concat Function

The concat function is used to concatenate various strings.

Syntax
concat($input as xs:anyAtomicType?) as xs:string

Input Parameters
 $input - one or more inputs separated by comma.

Example

XQuery Expression
let $bookTitle := "Learn XQuery in 24 hours"
let $updatedTitle := concat($bookTitle,",price: 200$")

return
<result>
<title>{$updatedTitle}</title>
</result>

Output
<result>
<title>Learn XQuery in 24 hours,price: 200$</title>
</result>

Verify the Result

In order to test the above-mentioned functionality, replace the contents
of books.xqy (mentioned in Environment Setup chapter) with the above XQuery
expression and execute the XQueryTester java program to verify the result.

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 XQuery

XQuery – string-join Function

The string-join function is used to concatenate various sequences separated by a given
delimiter.

Syntax
string-join($sequence as xs:string*, $delimiter as xs:string) as xs:string

Input Parameters
 $sequence - sequence of zero or more strings.
 $delimiter - delimiter to separate the items of above sequence.

Example

XQuery Expression
let $fruits :=
<fruits>
<fruit>Apple</fruit>
<fruit>Orange</fruit>
<fruit>Guava</fruit>
<fruit>Pineapple</fruit>
</fruits>

return
<results>
<fruits>{
string-join($fruits/fruit, ',')
}</fruits>
</results>

Output
<results>
<fruits>Apple,Orange,Guava,Pineapple</fruits>
</results>

Verify the Result

In order to test the above-mentioned functionality, replace the contents
of books.xqy (mentioned in Environment Setup chapter) with the above XQuery
expression and execute the XQueryTester java program to verify the result.

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 XQuery

10. XQuery ─ Date Functions

The following table lists the commonly used date functions provided by XQuery.

S.No. Name & Description

current-date()
1
Returns the current date.

current-time()
2
Returns the current time.

current-dateTime()
3
Returns both the current date and the current time.

XQuery – current-date Function

The current-date function is used to return the current date.

Syntax
current-date()

Example
XQuery Expression
let $date := current-date()

return
<results>
<date>{$date}</date>
</results>

Output
<results>
<date>2014-10-27+05:30</date>
</results>

Here +5:30 is the relative GMT time of the server.

36
 XQuery

Verify the Result

In order to test the above-mentioned functionality, replace the contents
of books.xqy (mentioned in Environment Setup chapter) with the above XQuery
expression and execute the XQueryTester java program to verify the result.

XQuery – current-time Function

The current-time function is used to return the current time.

Syntax
current-time()

Example

XQuery Expression
let $time := current-time()

return
<results>
<time>{$time}</time>
</results>

Output
<results>
<time>14:53:46.803+05:30</time>
</results>

Verify the Result

In order to test the above-mentioned functionality, replace the contents
of books.xqy (mentioned in Environment Setup chapter) with the above XQuery
expression and execute the XQueryTester java program to verify the result.

37
 XQuery

XQuery – current-dateTime Function

The current-dateTime function is used to return the current date and time.

Syntax
current-dateTime()

Example

XQuery Expression
let $datetime := current-dateTime()

return
<results>
<datetime>{$datetime}</datetime>
</results>

Output
<results>
<datetime>2014-10-27T14:55:58.621+05:30</datetime>
</results>

Here T separates the date with time and +5:30 represents the relative GMT time of the
server.

Verify the Result

In order to test the above-mentioned functionality, replace the contents
of books.xqy (mentioned in Environment Setup chapter) with the above XQuery
expression and execute the XQueryTester java program to verify the result.

38
 XQuery

11. XQuery ─ Regular Expressions

The following table lists the commonly used regular expression functions provided by
XQuery.

S.No. Name & Description

matches($input, $regex)
1
Returns true if the input matches with the provided regular expression.

replace($input, $regex, $string)

2
Replaces the matched input string with the given string.

tokenize($input, $regex)
3
Returns a sequence of items matching the regular expression.

XQuery – matches function

The matches function returns true if the input matches with the provided regular
expression; otherwise false.

Syntax
matches($input, $regex)

Input Parameters
 $input - input string.
 $regex - regular expression.

Example

XQuery Expression
let $input := 'TutorialsPoint Simply Easy Learning'
return (matches($input, 'Hello') = true(),
matches($input, 'T.* S.* E.* L.*') = true()
)

Output
false
true

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 XQuery

Verify the Result

In order to test the above-mentioned functionality, replace the contents
of books.xqy (mentioned in Environment Setup chapter) with the above XQuery
expression and execute the XQueryTester java program to verify the result.

XQuery – replace function

The replace function replaces the matched input string with a given string.

Syntax
replace($input, $regex, $string)

Input Parameters
 $input - input string.
 $regex - regular expression.
 $string - string to replace original string.

Example

XQuery Expression
let $input := 'Chapter 1 ... Chapter 2'
return ( replace($input, "Chapter (\d)", "Section $1.0"))

Output
Section 1.0 ... Section 2.0

Verify the Result

In order to test the above-mentioned functionality, replace the contents
of books.xqy (mentioned in Environment Setup chapter) with the above XQuery
expression and execute the XQueryTester java program to verify the result.

XQuery – tokenize Function

The tokenize function returns a sequence of items matching the regular expression.

Syntax
tokenize($input, $regex)

40
 XQuery

Input Parameters
 $input - input string.
 $regex - regular expression.

Example

XQuery Expression
let $input := 'Chapter 1 ... Chapter 2... Section 1.1'
return ( tokenize($input, 'C'))

Output
hapter 1 ...
hapter 2... Section 1.1

Verify the Result

In order to test the above-mentioned functionality, replace the contents of
books.xqy (mentioned in Environment Setup chapter) with the above XQuery expression
and execute the XQueryTester java program to verify the result.

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 XQuery

12. XQuery ─ If-Then-Else

XQuery provides a very useful if-then-else construct to check the validity of the input
values passed. Given below is the syntax of the if-then-else construct.

Syntax
if (condition) then
...
else
...

Example
We will use the following books.xml file and apply to it XQuery expression containing an
if-then-else construct to retrieve the titles of those books with a price value that is
greater than 30.

books.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<books>
<book category="JAVA">
<title lang="en">Learn Java in 24 Hours</title>
<author>Robert</author>
<year>2005</year>
<price>30.00</price>
</book>
<book category="DOTNET">
<title lang="en">Learn .Net in 24 hours</title>
<author>Peter</author>
<year>2011</year>
<price>40.50</price>
</book>
<book category="XML">
<title lang="en">Learn XQuery in 24 hours</title>
<author>Robert</author>
<author>Peter</author>
<year>2013</year>
<price>50.00</price>

42
 XQuery

</book>
<book category="XML">
<title lang="en">Learn XPath in 24 hours</title>
<author>Jay Ban</author>
<year>2010</year>
<price>16.50</price>
</book>
</books>

The following XQuery expression is to be applied on the above XML document.

books.xqy
<result>
{
if(not(doc("books.xml"))) then (
<error>
<message>books.xml does not exist</message>
</error>
)
else (
for $x in doc("books.xml")/books/book
where $x/price > 30
return $x/title
)
}
</result>

Output
<result>
<title lang="en">Learn .Net in 24 hours</title>
<title lang="en">Learn XQuery in 24 hours</title>
</result>

Verify the Result

To verify the result, replace the contents of books.xqy (given in the Environment Setup
chapter) with the above XQuery expression and execute the XQueryTester java program.

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 XQuery

13. XQuery ─ Custom Functions

XQuery provides the capability to write custom functions. Listed below are the guidelines
to create a custom function.

 Use the keyword declare function to define a function.

 Use the data types defined in the current XML Schema
 Enclose the body of function inside curly braces.
 Prefix the name of the function with an XML namespace.

The following syntax is used while creating a custom function.

Syntax
declare function prefix:function_name($parameter as datatype?...)
as returnDatatype?
{
function body...
};

Example
The following example shows how to create a user-defined function in XQuery.

XQuery Expression
declare function local:discount($price as xs:decimal?,$percentDiscount as
xs:decimal?)
as xs:decimal? {
let $discount := $price - ($price * $percentDiscount div 100)
return $discount
};

let $originalPrice := 100

let $discountAvailed := 10

return ( local:discount($originalPrice, $discountAvailed))

Output
90

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 XQuery

Verify the Result

To verify the result, replace the contents of books.xqy (given in the Environment Setup
chapter) with the above XQuery expression and execute the XQueryTester java program.

45