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XML is a versatile markup language, capable of labeling the information content of diverse data sources, including structured and semi-structured documents, relational databases, and object repositories. A query language that uses the structure of XML intelligently can express queries across all these kinds of data, whether physically stored in XML or viewed as XML via middleware. This specification describes a query language called XQuery, which is designed to be broadly applicable across many types of XML data sources.
A list of changes made since XQuery 3.1 can be found in J Change Log.
This is a draft prepared by the QT4CG (officially registered in W3C as the XSLT Extensions Community Group). Comments are invited.
The publications of this community group are dedicated to our co-chair, Michael Sperberg-McQueen (1954–2024).
The basic building block of XQuery 4.0 is the expression, which is a string of [Unicode] characters; the version of Unicode to be used is implementation-defined. The language provides several kinds of expressions which may be constructed from keywords, symbols, and operands. In general, the operands of an expression are other expressions. XQuery 4.0 allows expressions to be nested with full generality. (However, unlike a pure functional language, it does not allow variable substitution if the variable declaration contains construction of new nodes.)
Note:
This specification contains no assumptions or requirements regarding the character set encoding of strings of [Unicode] characters.
Like XML, XQuery 4.0 is a case-sensitive language. Keywords in XQuery 4.0 use lower-case characters and are not reserved—that is, names in XQuery 4.0 expressions are allowed to be the same as language keywords, except for certain unprefixed function-names listed in A.4 Reserved Function Names.
In this specification the phrases must, must not, should, should not, may, required, and recommended, when used in normative text and rendered in small capitals, are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].
Certain aspects of language processing are described in this specification as implementation-defined or implementation-dependent.
[Definition: Implementation-defined indicates an aspect that may differ between implementations, but must be specified by the implementer for each particular implementation.]
[Definition: Implementation-dependent indicates an aspect that may differ between implementations, is not specified by this or any W3C specification, and is not required to be specified by the implementer for any particular implementation.]
When a lexical QName appearing in an XQuery 4.0 expression is expanded, the rules are as follows.
If the name contains a colon, then the prefix (the substring before the colon) is used to establish the corresponding URI by reference to the statically known namespaces in the static context. If there is no binding for the prefix in the statically known namespaces then a static error is raised [err:XPST0081].
If the lexical QName contains no colon (and therefore no prefix), the namespace URI part of the QName is inferred in one of a number of ways, depending on the syntactic context in which the name appears. The various rules are defined below, and are referred to throughout the specification.
[Definition: When an unprefixed lexical QName is expanded using the no-namespace rule, it is interpreted as having an absent namespace URI.]
[Definition: When an unprefixed lexical QName is expanded using the default function namespace rule, it uses thethe processor searches for a matching function definition as follows: first, if the static context includes a no-namespace function definition with the required local name and arity, then that function definition is used; otherwise, the name is expanded using the default function namespace from the static context.]
Note:
The implication of this rule is that if there is a user-defined function in no namespace with the same local name as a system-defined function in the fn namespace, then a function call using the unprefixed function name invokes the user-defined function in preference to the system-defined function.
It is generally advisable to avoid any danger of user confusion by keeping the names of user-defined functions noticably distinct from the names of system-defined functions, for example by using different naming conventions (for example, leading upper-case letters leading underscores, or camelCase).
There may however be cases where a user-defined function deliberately has the same local name as a system-defined function, but with modified semantics. For example a user might choose to define a function Q{}current-date() that returns a date with no timezone: this might be defined in XQuery as:
declare function current-date() as xs:date {
fn:current-date() => fn:adjust-date-to-timezone(())
} [Definition: When an unprefixed lexical QName is expanded using the default type namespace rule, it uses the default namespace for elements and types. If this is absent, the no-namespace rule is used. If the default namespace for elements and types has the special value ##any, then the lexical QName refers to a name in the namespace http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema.]
[Definition: When an unprefixed lexical QName is expanded using the default element namespace rule, then it uses the default namespace for elements and types. If this is absent, or if it takes the special value ##any, then the no-namespace rule is used.]
[Definition: When an unprefixed lexical QName is expanded using the constructed element namespace rule, then it uses the namespace URI that is bound to the empty (zero-length) prefix in the statically known namespaces of the static context. If there is no such namespace binding then it uses the no-namespace rule.]
[Definition: When an unprefixed lexical QName is expanded using the annotation namespace rule, then it uses the namespace URI http://www.w3.org/2012/xquery.]
[Definition: When an unprefixed lexical QName is expanded using the element name matching rule rule, then it uses the default namespace for elements and types. If this is absent, then it uses the no-namespace rule. But if it takes the special value ##any, then the name is taken as matching any expanded QName with the corresponding local part, regardless of namespace: that is, the unprefixed name local is interpreted as *:local.]
A query can be assembled from one or more fragments called modules. [Definition: A module is a fragment of XQuery code that conforms to the Module grammar and can independently undergo the static analysis phase described in 2.3.3 Expression Processing. Each module is either a main module or a library module.]
[Definition: A main module consists of a Prolog followed by a Query Body.] A query has exactly one main module. In a main module, the Query Body is evaluated with respect to the static and dynamic contexts of the main module in which it is found, and its value is the result of the query.
[Definition: A module that does not contain a Query Body is called a library module. A library module consists of a module declaration followed by a Prolog.] A library module cannot be evaluated directly; instead, it provides function and variable declarations that can be imported into other modules.
The XQuery syntax does not allow a module to contain both a module declaration and a Query Body.
[Definition: A Prolog is a series of declarations and imports that define the processing environment for the module that contains the Prolog.] Each declaration or import is followed by a semicolon. A Prolog is organized into two parts.
The first part of the Prolog consists of setters, imports, namespace declarations, and default namespace declarations. [Definition: Setters are declarations that set the value of some property that affects query processing, such as construction mode or default collation.] Namespace declarations and default namespace declarations affect the interpretation of lexical QNames within the query. Imports are used to import definitions from schemas and modules. [Definition: The target namespace of a module is the namespace of the objects (such as elements or functions) that it defines. ]
The second part of the Prolog consists of declarations of variables, functions, and options. These declarations appear at the end of the Prolog because they may be affected by declarations and imports in the first part of the Prolog.
[Definition: The Query Body, if present, consists of an expression that defines the result of the query.] Evaluation of expressions is described in 4 Expressions. A module can be evaluated only if it has a Query Body.
Function definitions in the static context may now have optional parameters, provided this does not cause ambiguity across multiple function definitions with the same name. Optional parameters are given a default value, which can be any expression, including one that depends on the context of the caller (so an argument can default to the context value).
A user-defined function whose name is given as an unprefixed QName is now in no namespace. In previous versions of the language, it represented a name in the default function namespace (which only worked if the default function namespace was explicitly set to an unreserved namespace, which was rarely done because it caused other problems). [Issue 657 ]
In addition to the system functions, XQuery allows users to declare functions of their own. A function declaration declares a family of functions having the same name and similar parameters. The declaration specifies the name of the function, the names and datatypes of the parameters, and the datatype of the result. All datatypes are specified using the syntax described in 3 Types.
Including a function declaration in the query causes a corresponding function definition to be added to the statically known function definitions of the static context. The associated functions also become available in the dynamically known function definitions of the dynamic context.
FunctionDecl | ::= | "declare" Annotation* "function" EQName "(" ParamListWithDefaults? ")" TypeDeclaration? (FunctionBody | "external") |
| /* xgc: reserved-function-names */ | ||
Annotation | ::= | "%" EQName ("(" (AnnotationValue ++ ",") ")")? |
EQName | ::= | QName | URIQualifiedName |
ParamListWithDefaults | ::= | (ParamWithDefault ++ ",") |
ParamWithDefault | ::= | VarNameAndType (":=" ExprSingle)? |
VarNameAndType | ::= | "$" EQNameTypeDeclaration? |
TypeDeclaration | ::= | "as" SequenceType |
SequenceType | ::= | ("empty-sequence" "(" ")") |
ExprSingle | ::= | FLWORExpr |
FunctionBody | ::= | EnclosedExpr |
EnclosedExpr | ::= | "{" Expr? "}" |
A function declaration specifies whether the implementation of the function is user-defined or external.
In addition to user-defined functions and external functions, XQuery 4.0 allows anonymous functions to be declared in the body of a query using inline function expressions.
The following example illustrates the declaration and use of a local function that accepts a sequence of employee elements, summarizes them by department, and returns a sequence of dept elements.
declare function local:summary($emps as element(employee)*) as element(dept)* {
for $no in distinct-values($emps/deptno)
let $emp := $emps[deptno = $no]
return <dept>
<deptno>{ $no }</deptno>
<headcount>{ count($emp) }</headcount>
<payroll>{ sum($emp/salary) }</payroll>
</dept>
};
local:summary(doc("acme_corp.xml")//employee[location = "Denver"])[Definition: User defined functions are functions that contain a function body, which provides the implementation of the function as a content expression.] The static context for a function body includes all functions, variables, and namespaces that are declared or imported anywhere in the Prolog, including the function being declared. Its in-scope variables component also includes the parameters of the function being declared.
An implementation should raise a static error [err:XPST0008] if the function body depends on the context value.
The properties of the function definitionF are derived from the syntax of the function declaration as follows:
The name of F is the expanded QName obtained by expanding the EQName that follows the keyword function using the default function no-namespace rule. That is, an unprefixed name represents a name in no namespace.
Note:
This is a change from previous XQuery versions, where an unprefixed name was resolved using the default function namespace. This option was rarely used because it would work only when the default function namespace was an unreserved namespace, which is rarely the case.
The parameters of F are derived from the ParamWithDefault entries in the ParamListWithDefaults:
The parameter name is the expanded QName obtained by expanding the EQName that follows the $ symbol using the no-namespace rule.
The required type of the parameter is given by the TypeDeclaration, defaulting to item()*.
The default value of the parameter is given by the expression that follows the := symbol; if there is no default value, then the parameter is a required parameter.
The return type of the function is given by the final TypeDeclaration that follows the ParamListWithDefaults if present, defaulting to item()*.
The function annotations are derived from the annotations that follow the % symbol, if present.
The implementation of the function is given by the enclosed expression.
The static context may include more than one declared function with the same expanded name, but their arity ranges must not overlap [err:XQST0034].
Note:
A consequence of this rule is that a function declaration must not declare a function that has arity 1 (one) if its name is the same as the name of an imported atomic type, since the name would then clash with the constructor function for that type.
Private functions declared in a library module are no longer required to be in the module namespace. [Issue 1954 PR 1956 24 April 2025]
A user-defined function whose name is given as an unprefixed QName is now in no namespace. In previous versions of the language, it represented a name in the default function namespace (which only worked if the default function namespace was explicitly set to an unreserved namespace, which was rarely done because it caused other problems). [Issue 657 ]
Every declared function must be in a namespace; that is, every declared function name must (when expanded) have a non-null namespace URI [err:XQST0060].
Note:
In XQuery 4.0 it is no longer the case that all declared functions must be in a namespace; the function name can be unprefixed, in which case it represents a no-namespace function name, which will match an unprefixed name in a function call in preference to a system function with the same name.
A public function declared in a library module must be in the target namespace of the library module [err:XQST0048].
[Definition: A reserved namespace is a namespace that must not be used in the name of a function declaration.] It is a static error [err:XQST0045] if the function name in a function declaration (when expanded) is in a reserved namespace. The following namespaces are reserved namespaces:
http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace
http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema
http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance
http://www.w3.org/2005/xpath-functions
http://www.w3.org/2005/xpath-functions/array
http://www.w3.org/2005/xpath-functions/map
http://www.w3.org/2005/xpath-functions/math
http://www.w3.org/2012/xquery
If the function name in a function declaration has no namespace prefix, it is considered to be in theno default function namespace. This will result in a static error if the default function namespace is a namespacereserved namespace.
In order to allow modules to declare functions for local use within the module without defining a new namespace, and without any risk of conflicts with the standard fn namespace, XQuery predefines the namespace prefix local to the namespace http://www.w3.org/2005/xquery-local-functions. It is suggested (but not required) that this namespace be used for defining local functions, including private functions declared in library modules.
An absolute path expression is an instance of the production AbsolutePathExpr: it consists of either (a) the operator / followed by zero or more operands separated by / or // operators, or (b) the operator // followed by one or more operands separated by / or // operators.
An and expression is a non-trivial instance of the production AndExpr.
An anonymous function is a function item with no name. Anonymous functions may be created, for example, by evaluating an inline function expression or by partial function application.
Application functions are function definitions written in a host language such as XQuery or XSLT whose syntax and semantics are defined in this family of specifications. Their behavior (including the rules determining the static and dynamic context) follows the rules for such functions in the relevant host language specification.
An argument to a function call is either an argument expression or an ArgumentPlaceholder (?); in both cases it may either be supplied positionally, or identified by a name (called a keyword).
A function definition has an arity range, which is a range of consecutive non-negative integers. If the function definition has M required parameters and N optional parameters, then its arity range is from M to M+N inclusive.
An array is a function item that associates a set of positions, represented as positive integer keys, with values.
The value associated with a given key is called the associated value of the key.
An atomic item is a value in the value space of an atomic type, as defined in [XML Schema 1.0] or [XML Schema 1.1].
An atomic type is a simple schema type whose {variety}XS11-1 is atomic.
Atomization of a sequence is defined as the result of invoking the fn:data function, as defined in [Functions and Operators 4.0] section 2.1.4 fn:data.
Available binary resources. This is a mapping of strings to binary resources. Each string represents the absolute URI of a resource. The resource is returned by the fn:unparsed-binary function when applied to that URI.
Available documents. This is a mapping of strings to document nodes. Each string represents the absolute URI of a resource. The document node is the root of a tree that represents that resource using the data model. The document node is returned by the fn:doc function when applied to that URI.
Available collections. This is a mapping of strings to sequences of items. Each string represents the absolute URI of a resource. The sequence of items represents the result of the fn:collection function when that URI is supplied as the argument.
Available text resources. This is a mapping of strings to text resources. Each string represents the absolute URI of a resource. The resource is returned by the fn:unparsed-text function when applied to that URI.
Available URI collections. This is a mapping of strings to sequences of URIs. The string represents the absolute URI of a resource which can be interpreted as an aggregation of a number of individual resources each of which has its own URI. The sequence of URIs represents the result of the fn:uri-collection function when that URI is supplied as the argument.
An axis step is an instance of the production AxisStep: it is an expression that returns a sequence of GNodes that are reachable from a starting GNode via a specified axis. An axis step has three parts: an axis, which defines the direction of movement for the step, a node test, which selects GNodes based on their properties, and zero or more predicates which are used to filter the results.
A base URI declaration specifies the Static Base URI property. The Static Base URI property is used when resolving relative URI references.
In a for clause, when an expression is preceded by the keyword in, the value of that expression is called a binding collection.
In a window clause, when an expression is preceded by the keyword in, the value of that expression is called a binding sequence.
A boundary-space declaration sets the boundary-space policy in the static context, overriding any implementation-defined default. Boundary-space policy controls whether boundary whitespace is preserved by element constructors during processing of the query.
Boundary-space policy. This component controls the processing of boundary whitespace by direct element constructors, as described in 4.12.1.4 Boundary Whitespace.
Boundary whitespace is a sequence of consecutive whitespace characters within the content of a direct element constructor, that is delimited at each end either by the start or end of the content, or by a DirectConstructor, or by an EnclosedExpr. For this purpose, characters generated by character references such as   or by CDataSections are not considered to be whitespace characters.
A character reference is an XML-style reference to a [Unicode] character, identified by its decimal or hexadecimal codepoint.
A choice item type defines an item type that is the union of a number of alternatives. For example the type (xs:hexBinary | xs:base64Binary) defines the union of these two primitive atomic types, while the type (map(*) | array(*)) matches any item that is either a map or an array.
The coercion rules are rules used to convert a supplied value to a required type, for example when converting an argument of a function call to the declared type of the function parameter.
A collation is a specification of the manner in which strings and URIs are compared and, by extension, ordered. For a more complete definition of collation, see [Functions and Operators 4.0] section 5.3 Comparison of strings.
A comma operator is a comma used specifically as the operator in a sequence expression.
A complex terminal is a variable terminal whose production rule references, directly or indirectly, an ordinary production rule.
A computed element constructor creates an element node, allowing both the name and the content of the node to be computed.
When an unprefixed lexical QName is expanded using the constructed element namespace rule, then it uses the namespace URI that is bound to the empty (zero-length) prefix in the statically known namespaces of the static context. If there is no such namespace binding then it uses the no-namespace rule.
A construction declaration sets the construction mode in the static context, overriding any implementation-defined default.
Construction mode. The construction mode governs the behavior of element and document node constructors. If construction mode is preserve, the type of a constructed element node is xs:anyType, and all attribute and element nodes copied during node construction retain their original types. If construction mode is strip, the type of a constructed element node is xs:untyped; all element nodes copied during node construction receive the type xs:untyped, and all attribute nodes copied during node construction receive the type xs:untypedAtomic.
The constructor function for a given simple type is used to convert instances of other simple types into the given type. The semantics of the constructor function call T($arg) are defined to be equivalent to the expression $arg cast as T?.
In an enclosed expression, the optional expression enclosed in curly brackets is called the content expression.
A function definition is said to be context dependent if its result depends on the static or dynamic context of its caller. A function definition may be context-dependent for some arities in its arity range, and context-independent for others: for example fn:name#0 is context-dependent while fn:name#1 is context-independent.
When the context value is a single item, it can also be referred to as the context item; when it is a single node, it can also be referred to as the context node.
The context position is the position of the context value within the series of values currently being processed.
The context size is the number of values in the series of values currently being processed.
The context value is the value currently being processed.
A copy-namespaces declaration sets the value of copy-namespaces mode in the static context, overriding any implementation-defined default. Copy-namespaces mode controls the namespace bindings that are assigned when an existing element node is copied by an element constructor or document constructor.
Copy-namespaces mode. This component controls the in-scope namespaces property that is assigned when an existing element node is copied by an element constructor, as described in 4.12.1 Direct Element Constructors. Its value consists of two parts: preserve or no-preserve, and inherit or no-inherit.
Current dateTime. This information represents an implementation-dependent point in time during the processing of a query , and includes an explicit timezone. It can be retrieved by the fn:current-dateTime function. If called multiple times during the execution of a query , this function always returns the same result.
XQuery 4.0 operates on the abstract, logical structure of an XML document or JSON object rather than its surface syntax. This logical structure, known as the data model, is defined in [XDM 4.0].
A decimal format declaration adds a decimal format to the statically known decimal formats, which define the properties used to format numbers using the fn:format-number() function
decimal-separator(M, R) is used to separate the integer part of the number from the fractional part. The default value for both the marker and the rendition is U+002E (FULL STOP, PERIOD, .) .
When an unprefixed lexical QName is expanded using the annotation namespace rule, then it uses the namespace URI http://www.w3.org/2012/xquery.
Default calendar. This is the calendar used when formatting dates in human-readable output (for example, by the functions fn:format-date and fn:format-dateTime) if no other calendar is requested. The value is a string.
Default collation. This identifies one of the collations in statically known collations as the collation to be used by functions and operators for comparing and ordering values of type xs:string and xs:anyURI (and types derived from them) when no explicit collation is specified.
A default collation declaration sets the value of the default collation in the static context, overriding any implementation-defined default.
Default collection. This is the sequence of items that would result from calling the fn:collection function with no arguments.
When an unprefixed lexical QName is expanded using the default element namespace rule, then it uses the default namespace for elements and types. If this is absent, or if it takes the special value ##any, then the no-namespace rule is used.
Default function namespace. This is either a namespace URI, or absentDM. The namespace URI, if present, is used for any unprefixed QName appearing in a position where a function name is expected.
When an unprefixed lexical QName is expanded using the default function namespace rule, it uses thethe processor searches for a matching function definition as follows: first, if the static context includes a no-namespace function definition with the required local name and arity, then that function definition is used; otherwise, the name is expanded using the default function namespace from the static context.
The default in-scope namespace of an element node
Default language. This is the natural language used when creating human-readable output (for example, by the functions fn:format-date and fn:format-integer) if no other language is requested. The value is a language code as defined by the type xs:language.
Default namespace for elements and types. This is either a namespace URI, or the special value "##any", or absentDM. This indicates how unprefixed QNames are interpreted when they appear in a position where an element name or type name is expected.
Default order for empty sequences. This component controls the processing of empty sequences and NaN values as ordering keys in an order by clause in a FLWOR expression, as described in 4.13.9 Order By Clause.
Default place. This is a geographical location used to identify the place where events happened (or will happen) when processing dates and times using functions such as fn:format-date, fn:format-dateTime, and fn:civil-timezone, if no other place is specified. It is used when translating timezone offsets to civil timezone names, and when using calendars where the translation from ISO dates/times to a local representation is dependent on geographical location. Possible representations of this information are an ISO country code or an Olson timezone name, but implementations are free to use other representations from which the above information can be derived. The only requirement is that it should uniquely identify a civil timezone, which means that country codes for countries with multiple timezones, such as the United States, are inadequate.
When an unprefixed lexical QName is expanded using the default type namespace rule, it uses the default namespace for elements and types. If this is absent, the no-namespace rule is used. If the default namespace for elements and types has the special value ##any, then the lexical QName refers to a name in the namespace http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema.
Default URI collection. This is the sequence of URIs that would result from calling the fn:uri-collection function with no arguments.
The delimiting terminal symbols are: !!=##)$%((#)**:+,--->->...////>::*:::=;<<!--<![CDATA[</<<<=<?==!>=>=?>>>=>>??>?[@[]]]>]```````[`{{{{|||}}`}}×÷AposStringLiteralBracedURILiteralQuotStringLiteralSStringLiteral
A variable value (or the context value) depends on another variable value (or the context value) if, during the evaluation of the initializing expression of the former, the latter is accessed through the module context.
A schema typeS1 is said to derive fromschema typeS2 if any of the following conditions is true:
S1 is the same type as S2.
S2 is the base type of S1.
S2 is a pure union type of which S1 is a member type.
There is a schema typeM such that S1derives fromM and Mderives fromS2.
digit(M) is a character used in the picture string to represent an optional digit; the default value is U+0023 (NUMBER SIGN, #) .
A direct element constructor is a form of element constructor in which the name of the constructed element is a constant.
Informally, document order is the order in which nodes appear in the XML serialization of a document.
Dynamically known function definitions. This is a set of function definitions. It includes the statically known function definitions as a subset, but may include other function definitions that are not known statically.
The dynamic context of an expression is defined as information that is needed for the dynamic evaluation of an expression, beyond any information that is needed from the static context.
A dynamic error is an error that must be detected during the dynamic evaluation phase and may be detected during the static analysis phase.
The dynamic evaluation phase is the phase during which the value of an expression is computed.
is
Every value matches one or more sequence types. A value is said to have a dynamic typeT if it matches (or is an instance of) the sequence type T.
The effective boolean value of a value is defined as the result of applying the fn:boolean function to the value.
The effective case of a switch expression is the first case clause that matches, using the rules given above, or the default clause if no such case clause exists.
The effective case in a typeswitch expression is the first case clause in which the value of the operand expression matches a SequenceType in the SequenceTypeUnion of the case clause, using the rules of SequenceType matching.
When an unprefixed lexical QName is expanded using the element name matching rule rule, then it uses the default namespace for elements and types. If this is absent, then it uses the no-namespace rule. But if it takes the special value ##any, then the name is taken as matching any expanded QName with the corresponding local part, regardless of namespace: that is, the unprefixed name local is interpreted as *:local.
An empty order declaration sets the default order for empty sequences in the static context, overriding any implementation-defined default. This declaration controls the processing of empty sequences and NaN values as ordering keys in an order by clause in a FLWOR expression.
A sequence containing zero items is called an empty sequence.
An enclosed expression is an instance of the EnclosedExpr production, which allows an optional expression within curly brackets.
If present, a version declaration may optionally include an encoding declaration. The value of the string literal following the keyword encoding is an encoding name, and must conform to the definition of EncName specified in [XML 1.0] [err:XQST0087]. The purpose of an encoding declaration is to allow the writer of a query to provide a string that indicates how the query is encoded, such as "UTF-8", "UTF-16", or "US-ASCII".
Each key / value pair in a map is called an entry.
An EnumerationType accepts a fixed set of string values.
Environment variables. This is a mapping from names to values. Both the names and the values are strings. The names are compared using an implementation-defined collation, and are unique under this collation. The set of environment variables is implementation-defined and may be empty.
Two tuples T1 and T2 have equivalent grouping keys if and only if, for each grouping variable GV, the atomized value of GV in T1 is deep-equal to the atomized value of GV in T2, as defined by applying the function fn:deep-equal using the appropriate collation.
In addition to its identifying QName, a dynamic error may also carry a descriptive string and one or more additional values called error values.
Executable Base URI. This is an absolute URI used to resolve relative URIs during the evaluation of expressions; it is used, for example, to resolve a relative URI supplied to the fn:doc or fn:unparsed-text functions.
An expanded QName is a triple: its components are a prefix, a local name, and a namespace URI. In the case of a name in no namespace, the namespace URI and prefix are both absent. In the case of a name in the default namespace, the prefix is absent.
exponent-separator(M, R) is used to separate the mantissa from the exponent in scientific notation. The default value for both the marker and the rendition is U+0065 (LATIN SMALL LETTER E, e) .
The expression context for a given expression consists of all the information that can affect the result of the expression.
An extension expression is an expression whose semantics are implementation-defined.
External functions can be characterized as functions that are neither part of the processor implementation, nor written in a language whose semantics are under the control of this family of specifications. The semantics of external functions, including any context dependencies, are entirely implementation-defined. In XSLT, external functions are called 24.1 Extension Functions XT30.
A filter expression is an instance of the construct FilterExpr: that is, it is an expression in the form E1[E2]. Its effect is to return those items from the value of E1 that satisfy the predicate in E2.
A filter expression for maps and arrays is an instance of the construct FilterExprAM: that is, it is an expression in the form E1?[E2]. Its effect is to evaluate E1 to return an array or map, and to select members of the array, or entries from the map, that satisfy the predicate in E2.
A fixed focus is a focus for an expression that is evaluated once, rather than being applied to a series of values; in a fixed focus, the context value is set to one specific value, the context position is 1, and the context size is 1.
The first three components of the dynamic context (context value, context position, and context size) are called the focus of the expression.
A focus function is an inline function expression in which the function signature is implicit: the function takes a single argument of type item()* (that is, any value), and binds this to the context value when evaluating the function body, which returns a result of type item()*.
A function assertion is a predicate that restricts the set of functions matched by a FunctionType. It uses the same syntax as 5.15 Annotations.
Function coercion wraps a function item in a new function whose signature is the same as the expected type. This effectively delays the checking of the argument and return types until the function is called.
A function definition contains information used to evaluate a static function call, including the name, parameters, and return type of the function.
A function item is an item that can be called using a dynamic function call.
A generalized atomic type is an item type whose instances are all atomic items. Generalized atomic types include (a) atomic types, either built-in (for example xs:integer) or imported from a schema, (b) pure union types, either built-in (xs:numeric and xs:error) or imported from a schema, (c) choice item types if their alternatives are all generalized atomic types, and (d) enumeration types.
The term generic node or GNode is a collective term for XNodes (more commonly called simply nodes) representing the parts of an XML document, and JNodes, often used to represent the parts of a JSON document.
The atomized value of a grouping variable is called a grouping key.
grouping-separator(M, R) is used to separate groups of digits (for example as a thousands separator). The default value for both the marker and the rendition is U+002C (COMMA, ,) .
Each grouping specification specifies one grouping variable, which refers to variable bindings in the pre-grouping tuples. The values of the grouping variables are used to assign pre-grouping tuples to groups.
An expression E is said to be guarded by some governing condition C if evaluation of E is not allowed to fail with a dynamic error except when C applies.
Ignorable whitespace consists of any whitespace characters that may occur between terminals, unless these characters occur in the context of a production marked with a ws:explicit annotation, in which case they can occur only where explicitly specified (see A.3.4.2 Explicit Whitespace Handling).
Certain expressions, while not erroneous, are classified as being implausible, because they achieve no useful effect.
Implementation-defined indicates an aspect that may differ between implementations, but must be specified by the implementer for each particular implementation.
Implementation-dependent indicates an aspect that may differ between implementations, is not specified by this or any W3C specification, and is not required to be specified by the implementer for any particular implementation.
Implicit timezone. This is the timezone to be used when a date, time, or dateTime value that does not have a timezone is used in a comparison or arithmetic operation. The implicit timezone is an implementation-defined value of type xs:dayTimeDuration. See 3.2.7.3 Timezones XS1-2 or 3.3.7 dateTime XS11-2 for the range of valid values of a timezone.
infinity(R) is the string used to represent the double value infinity (INF); the default value is the string "Infinity"
In the dynamic context of every module in a query, the context value component must have the same setting. If this shared setting is not absentDM, it is referred to as the initial context value.
If a variable declaration includes an expression (VarValue or VarDefaultValue), the expression is called an initializing expression. The static context for an initializing expression includes all functions, variables, and namespaces that are declared or imported anywhere in the Prolog.
An inline function expression is an instance of the construct InlineFunctionExpr. When evaluated, an inline function expression creates an anonymous function whose properties are defined directly in the inline function expression.
In-scope attribute declarations. Each attribute declaration is identified either by an expanded QName (for a top-level attribute declaration) or by an implementation-dependent attribute identifier (for a local attribute declaration). If the Schema Aware Feature is supported, in-scope attribute declarations include all attribute declarations found in imported schemas.
In-scope element declarations. Each element declaration is identified either by an expanded QName (for a top-level element declaration) or by an implementation-dependent element identifier (for a local element declaration). If the Schema Aware Feature is supported, in-scope element declarations include all element declarations found in imported schemas.
In-scope named item types. This is a mapping from expanded QNames to named item types.
The in-scope namespaces property of an element node is a set of namespace bindings, each of which associates a namespace prefix with a URI.
In-scope schema definitions is a generic term for all the element declarations, attribute declarations, and schema type definitions that are in scope during static analysis of an expression.
In-scope schema types. Each schema type definition is identified either by an expanded QName (for a named type) or by an implementation-dependent type identifier (for an anonymous type). The in-scope schema types include the predefined schema types described in 3.5 Schema Types. If the Schema Aware Feature is supported, in-scope schema types also include all type definitions found in imported schemas.
In-scope variables. This is a mapping from expanded QNames to sequence types. It defines the set of variables that are available for reference within an expression. The expanded QName is the name of the variable, and the type is the static type of the variable.
An item is either an atomic item, a node, or a function item.
An item type is a type that can be expressed using the ItemType syntax, which forms part of the SequenceType syntax. Item types match individual items.
An item type designator is a syntactic construct conforming to the grammar rule ItemType. An item type designator is said to designate an item type.
A JNode is a kind of item used to represent a value within the context of a tree of maps and arrays. A root JNode represents a map or array; a non-root JNode represents a member of an array or an entry in a map.
A tree that is rooted at a parentless JNode is referred to as a JTree.
An alternative form of a node test called a type test can select XNodes based on their type, or in the case of JNodes, the type of their contained ·content·
A lexical QName is a name that conforms to the syntax of the QName production
A module that does not contain a Query Body is called a library module. A library module consists of a module declaration followed by a Prolog.
A literal is a direct syntactic representation of an atomic item.
A literal terminal is a token appearing as a string in quotation marks on the right-hand side of an ordinary production rule.
A logical expression is either an and expression or an or expression. If a logical expression does not raise an error, its value is always one of the boolean values true or false.
A lookup expression is an instance of the production LookupExpr: that is, an expression in the form E1?KS, where E1 is an expression returning a sequence of maps or arrays, and KS is a key specifier, which indicates which entries in a map, or members in an array, should be selected.
A main module consists of a Prolog followed by a Query Body.
A map is a function that associates a set of keys with values, resulting in a collection of key / value pairs.
The mapping arrow operator=!> applies a function to each item in a sequence.
MAY means that an item is truly optional.
The values of an array are called its members.
minus-sign(R) is the string used to mark negative numbers; the default value is U+002D (HYPHEN-MINUS, -) .
A module is a fragment of XQuery code that conforms to the Module grammar and can independently undergo the static analysis phase described in 2.3.3 Expression Processing. Each module is either a main module or a library module.
A module declaration serves to identify a module as a library module. A module declaration begins with the keyword module and contains a namespace prefix and a URILiteral.
A module import imports the public variable declarations, public function declarations, and public item type declarations from one or more library modules into the statically known function definitions, in-scope variables, or in-scope named item types of the importing module.
MUST means that the item is an absolute requirement of the specification.
MUST NOT means that the item is an absolute prohibition of the specification.
A named function reference is an instance of the production NamedFunctionRef: it is an expression (written name#arity) which evaluates to a function item, the details of the function item being based on the properties of a function definition in the static context.
A named item type is an ItemType identified by an expanded QName.
When an expression is used to specify the name of a constructed node, that expression is called the name expression of the constructor.
A namespace binding is a pair comprising a namespace prefix (which is either an xs:NCName or empty), and a namespace URI.
A namespace declaration declares a namespace prefix and associates it with a namespace URI, adding the (prefix, URI) pair to the set of statically known namespaces.
A namespace declaration attribute is used inside a direct element constructor. Its purpose is to bind a namespace prefix (including the zero-length prefix) for the constructed element node, including its attributes.
The namespace-sensitive types are xs:QName, xs:NOTATION, types derived by restriction from xs:QName or xs:NOTATION, list types that have a namespace-sensitive item type, and union types with a namespace-sensitive type in their transitive membership.
A node test that consists only of an EQName or a Wildcard is called a name test.
NaN(R) is the string used to represent the double value NaN (not a number); the default value is the string "NaN"
Except where the context indicates otherwise, the term node is used as a synonym for XNode.
A node test is a condition on the properties of a GNode. A node test determines which GNodes returned by an axis are selected by a step.
When an unprefixed lexical QName is expanded using the no-namespace rule, it is interpreted as having an absent namespace URI.
The non-delimiting terminal symbols are: allowingancestorancestor-or-selfandarrayasascendingatattributebase-uriboundary-spacebycasecastcastablecatchchildcollationcommentconstructioncontextcopy-namespacescountdecimal-formatdecimal-separatordeclaredefaultdescendantdescendant-or-selfdescendingdigitdivdocumentdocument-nodeelementelseemptyempty-sequenceencodingendenumeqeveryexceptexponent-separatorexternalfalsefinallyfixedfnfollowingfollowing-or-selffollowing-siblingfollowing-sibling-or-selffollowsforfunctiongegetgnodegreatestgroupgrouping-separatorgtidivifimportininfinityinheritinstanceintersectisis-notitemjnodekeylaxleleastletltmapmemberminus-signmodmodulenamespacenamespace-nodeNaNnenextno-inheritno-preservenodeofonlyoptionororderorderedorderingotherwiseparentpattern-separatorper-millepercentprecedesprecedingpreceding-or-selfpreceding-siblingpreceding-sibling-or-selfpreservepreviousprocessing-instructionrecordreturnsatisfiesschemaschema-attributeschema-elementselfslidingsomestablestartstrictstripswitchtextthentotreattruetrytumblingtypetypeswitchunionunorderedvalidatevaluevariableversionwhenwherewhilewindowxqueryzero-digitBinaryIntegerLiteralDecimalLiteralDoubleLiteralHexIntegerLiteralIntegerLiteralNCNameQNameURIQualifiedName
A construct is said to be a non-trivial instance of a grammatical production if it is not also an instance of one of its sub-productions.
The type xs:numeric is defined as a union type with member types xs:double, xs:float, and xs:decimal. An item that is an instance of any of these types is referred to as a numeric value, and a type that is a subtype of xs:numeric is referred to as a numeric type.
A predicate whose predicate expression returns a value of type xs:numeric+ is called a numeric predicate.
An option declaration declares an option that affects the behavior of a particular implementation. Each option consists of an identifying EQName and a StringLiteral.
An ordinary production rule is a production rule in A.1 EBNF that is not annotated ws:explicit.
An or expression is a non-trivial instance of the production OrExpr.
An output declaration is an option declaration in the namespace http://www.w3.org/2010/xslt-xquery-serialization; it is used to declare serialization parameters.
A static or dynamic function call is a partial function application if one or more arguments is an ArgumentPlaceholder.
A partially applied function is a function created by partial function application.
A path expression is either an absolute path expression or a relative path expression
pattern-separator(M) is a character used to separate positive and negative sub-pictures in a picture string; the default value is U+003B (SEMICOLON, ;) .
percent(M, R) is used to indicate that the number is written as a per-hundred fraction; the default value for both the marker and the rendition is U+0025 (PERCENT SIGN, %) .
per-mille(M, R) is used to indicate that the number is written as a per-thousand fraction; the default value for both the marker and the rendition is U+2030 (PER MILLE SIGN, ‰) .
The pipeline operator-> evaluates an expression and binds the result to the context value before evaluating another expression.
A positional variable is a variable that is preceded by the keyword at.
A pragma is denoted by the delimiters (# and #), and consists of an identifying EQName followed by implementation-defined content.
A predefined entity reference is a short sequence of characters, beginning with an ampersand, that represents a single character that might otherwise have syntactic significance.
The predicate truth value of a value $V is the result of the expression if ($V instance of xs:numeric+) then ($V = position()) else fn:boolean($V).
A primary expression is an instance of the production PrimaryExpr. Primary expressions are the basic primitives of the language. They include literals, variable references, context value references, constructors, and function calls. A primary expression may also be created by enclosing any expression in parentheses, which is sometimes helpful in controlling the precedence of operators.
Every axis has a principal node kind. If an axis can contain elements, then the principal node kind is element; otherwise, it is the kind of nodes that the axis can contain.
A private function is a function with a %private annotation. A private function is hidden from module import, which can not import it into the statically known function definitions of another module.
A private item type is a named item type with a %private annotation. A private item type is hidden from module import, which can not import it into the in-scope named item types of another module.
A private variable is a variable with a %private annotation. A private variable is hidden from module import, which can not import it into the in-scope variables of another module.
A Prolog is a series of declarations and imports that define the processing environment for the module that contains the Prolog.
A public function is a function without a %private annotation. A public function is accessible to module import, which can import it into the statically known function definitions of another module.
A public item type is an item type declaration without a %private annotation. A public item type is accessible to module import, which can import it into the in-scope named item types of another module.
A public variable is a variable without a %private annotation. A public variable is accessible to module import, which can import it into the in-scope variables of another module. Using %public and %private annotations in a main module is not an error, but it does not affect module imports, since a main module cannot be imported. It is a static error [err:XQST0116] if a variable declaration contains both a %private and a %public annotation, more than one %private annotation, or more than one %public annotation.
A pure union type is a simple type that satisfies the following constraints: (a) {variety}XS11-1 is union, (b) the {facets}XS11-1 property is empty, (c) no type in the transitive membership of the union type has {variety}XS11-1list, and (d) no type in the transitive membership of the union type is a type with {variety}XS11-1union having a non-empty {facets}XS11-1 property
A query consists of one or more modules.
The Query Body, if present, consists of an expression that defines the result of the query.
A range expression is a non-trivial instance of the production RangeExpr. A range expression is used to construct a sequence of integers.
A relative path expression is a non-trivial instance of the production RelativePathExpr: it consists of two or more operand expressions separated by / or // operators.
A reserved namespace is a namespace that must not be used in the name of a function declaration.
To resolve a relative URI$rel against a base URI $base is to expand it to an absolute URI, as if by calling the function fn:resolve-uri($rel, $base).
The node ordering that is the reverse of document order is called reverse document order.
Two atomic items K1 and K2 have the same key value if fn:atomic-equal(K1, K2) returns true, as specified in [Functions and Operators 4.0] section 14.2.1 fn:atomic-equal
The Schema Aware Feature permits the query Prolog to contain a schema import, and permits a query to contain a validate expression (see 4.25 Validate Expressions).
A schema import imports the element declarations, attribute declarations, and type definitions from a schema into the in-scope schema definitions. For each named user-defined simple type in the schema, schema import also adds a corresponding constructor function.
A schema type is a complex type or simple type as defined in the [XML Schema 1.0] or [XML Schema 1.1] specifications, including built-in types as well as user-defined types.
A sequence is an ordered collection of zero or more items.
The sequence arrow operator=> applies a function to a supplied sequence.
The sequence concatenation of a number of sequences S1, S2, ... Sn is defined to be the sequence formed from the items of S1, followed by the items from S2, and so on, retaining order.
A sequence expression is a non-trivial instance of the production rule Expr, that is, an expression containing two or more instances of the production ExprSingle separated by the comma operator.
A sequence type is a type that can be expressed using the SequenceType syntax. Sequence types are used whenever it is necessary to refer to a type in an XQuery 4.0 expression. Since all values are sequences, every value matches one or more sequence types.
A sequence type designator is a syntactic construct conforming to the grammar rule SequenceType. A sequence type designator is said to designate a sequence type.
SequenceType matching compares a value with an expected sequence type.
Serialization is the process of converting an XDM instance to a sequence of octets (step DM4 in Figure 1.), as described in [Serialization 4.0].
The Serialization Feature provides means for serializing the result of a query as specified in 2.3.5 Serialization.
Setters are declarations that set the value of some property that affects query processing, such as construction mode or default collation.
SHOULD means that there may exist valid reasons in particular circumstances to ignore a particular item, but the full implications must be understood and carefully weighed before choosing a different course.
A sequence containing exactly one item is called a singleton.
An enumeration type with a single enumerated value E (such as enum("red")) matches an item S if and only if (a) S is an instance of xs:string, and (b) S is equal to E when compared using Unicode codepoint collation. This is referred to as a singleton enumeration type.
A singleton focus is a fixed focus in which the context value is a singleton item.
Document order is stable, which means that the relative order of two nodes will not change during the processing of a given query , even if this order is implementation-dependent.
Statically known collations. This is an implementation-defined mapping from URI to collation. It defines the names of the collations that are available for use in processing queries and expressions.
Statically known decimal formats. This is a mapping from QNames to decimal formats, with one default format that has no visible name, referred to as the unnamed decimal format. Each format is available for use when formatting numbers using the fn:format-number function.
Statically known function definitions. This is a set of function definitions.
Statically known namespaces. This is a mapping from prefix to namespace URI that defines all the namespaces that are known during static processing of a given expression.
The static analysis phase depends on the expression itself and on the static context. The static analysis phase does not depend on input data (other than schemas).
Static Base URI. This is an absolute URI, used to resolve relative URIs during static analysis.
The static context of an expression is the information that is available during static analysis of the expression, prior to its evaluation.
An error that can be detected during the static analysis phase, and is not a type error, is a static error.
A static function call is an instance of the production FunctionCall: it consists of an EQName followed by a parenthesized list of zero or more arguments.
The static type of an expression is the best inference that the processor is able to make statically about the type of the result of the expression.
The operands of a path expression are conventionally referred to as steps.
A string constructor is an instance of the production StringConstructor: it is an expression that creates a string from literal text and interpolated subexpressions.
The string value of a node is a string and can be extracted by applying the string function to the node.
Two sequence types are deemed to be substantively disjoint if (a) neither is a subtype of the other (see 3.3.1 Subtypes of Sequence Types) and (b) the only values that are instances of both types are one or more of the following:
The empty sequence, ().
The empty mapDM, {}.
The empty arrayDM, [].
Substitution groups are defined in 2.2.2.2 Element Substitution Group XS1-1 and 2.2.2.2 Element Substitution Group XS11-1. Informally, the substitution group headed by a given element (called the head element) consists of the set of elements that can be substituted for the head element without affecting the outcome of schema validation.
Given two sequence types or item types, the rules in this section determine if one is a subtype of the other. If a type A is a subtype of type B, it follows that every value matched by A is also matched by B.
The use of a value that has a dynamic type that is a subtype of the expected type is known as subtype substitution.
Each rule in the grammar defines one symbol, using the following format:
symbol ::= expression
Whitespace and Comments function as symbol separators. For the most part, they are not mentioned in the grammar, and may occur between any two terminal symbols mentioned in the grammar, except where that is forbidden by the /* ws: explicit */ annotation in the EBNF, or by the /* xgc: xml-version */ annotation.
System functions include the functions defined in [Functions and Operators 4.0], functions defined by the specifications of a host language, constructor functions for atomic types, and any additional functions provided by the implementation. System functions are sometimes called built-in functions.
The target namespace of a module is the namespace of the objects (such as elements or functions) that it defines.
A terminal is a symbol or string or pattern that can appear in the right-hand side of a rule, but never appears on the left-hand side in the main grammar, although it may appear on the left-hand side of a rule in the grammar for terminals.
A tuple is a set of zero or more named variables, each of which is bound to a value that is an XDM instance.
A tuple stream is an ordered sequence of zero or more tuples.
Each element node and attribute node in an XDM instance has a type annotation (described in [XDM 4.0] section 4.1 Schema Information). The type annotation of a node is a reference to a schema type.
The Typed Data Feature permits an XDM instance to contain element node types other than xs:untyped and attributes node types other than xs:untypedAtomic.
A variable binding may be accompanied by a type declaration, which consists of the keyword as followed by the static type of the variable, declared using the syntax in 3.1 Sequence Types.
The typed value of a node is a sequence of atomic items and can be extracted by applying the data function to the node.
A type error may be raised during the static analysis phase or the dynamic evaluation phase. During the static analysis phase, a type error occurs when the static type of an expression does not match the expected type of the context in which the expression occurs. During the dynamic evaluation phase, a type error occurs when the dynamic type of a value does not match the expected type of the context in which the value occurs.
Within this specification, the term URI refers to a Universal Resource Identifier as defined in [RFC3986] and extended in [RFC3987] with the new name IRI.
User defined functions are functions that contain a function body, which provides the implementation of the function as a content expression.
In the data model, a value is always a sequence.
A variable declaration in the XQuery prolog defines the name and static type of a variable, and optionally a value for the variable. It adds to the in-scope variables in the static context, and may also add to the variable values in the dynamic context.
A variable reference is an EQName preceded by a $-sign.
A variable terminal is an instance of a production rule that is not itself an ordinary production rule but that is named (directly) on the right-hand side of an ordinary production rule.
Variable values. This is a mapping from expanded QNames to values. It contains the same expanded QNames as the in-scope variables in the static context for the expression. The expanded QName is the name of the variable and the value is the dynamic value of the variable, which includes its dynamic type.
A version declaration can identify the applicable XQuery syntax and semantics for a module, as well as its encoding.
In addition to static errors, dynamic errors, and type errors, an XQuery 4.0 implementation may raise warnings, either during the static analysis phase or the dynamic evaluation phase. The circumstances in which warnings are raised, and the ways in which warnings are handled, are implementation-defined.
A whitespace character is any of the characters defined by [http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml/#NT-S].
In these rules, if MU and NU are NameTestUnions, then MUwildcard-matchesNU is true if every name that matches MU also matches NU.
A window is a sequence of consecutive items drawn from the binding sequence.
The term XDM instance is used, synonymously with the term value, to denote an unconstrained sequence of items.
An XNode is an instance of one of the node kinds defined in [XDM 4.0] section 7.1 XML Nodes.
XPath 1.0 compatibility mode.This component must be set by all host languages that include XPath 3.1 as a subset, indicating whether rules for compatibility with XPath 1.0 are in effect. XQuery sets the value of this component to false.
An XQuery 1.0 Processor processes a query according to the XQuery 1.0 specification.
An XQuery 3.0 Processor processes a query according to the XQuery 3.0 specification.
An XQuery 3.1 Processor processes a query according to the XQuery 3.1 specification.
An XQuery 4.0 Processor processes a query according to the XQuery 4.0 specification.
An XQuery version number consists of two integers, referred to as the major version number and the minor version number.
xs:anyAtomicType is an atomic type that includes all atomic items (and no values that are not atomic). Its base type is xs:anySimpleType from which all simple types, including atomic, list, and union types, are derived. All primitive atomic types, such as xs:decimal and xs:string, have xs:anyAtomicType as their base type.
xs:dayTimeDuration is derived by restriction from xs:duration. The lexical representation of xs:dayTimeDuration is restricted to contain only day, hour, minute, and second components.
xs:error is a simple type with no value space. It is defined in 3.16.7.3 xs:error XS11-1 and can be used in the 3.1 Sequence Types to raise errors.
xs:untyped is used as the type annotation of an element node that has not been validated, or has been validated in skip mode.
xs:untypedAtomic is an atomic type that is used to denote untyped atomic data, such as text that has not been assigned a more specific type.
xs:yearMonthDuration is derived by restriction from xs:duration. The lexical representation of xs:yearMonthDuration is restricted to contain only year and month components.
A tree that is rooted at a parentless XNode is referred to as an XTree.
zero-digit(M) is the character used in the picture string to represent the digit zero; the default value is U+0030 (DIGIT ZERO, 0) . This character must be a digit (category Nd in the Unicode property database), and it must have the numeric value zero. This property implicitly defines the ten Unicode characters that are used to represent the values 0 to 9 in the function output: Unicode is organized so that each set of decimal digits forms a contiguous block of characters in numerical sequence. Within the picture string any of these ten character can be used (interchangeably) as a place-holder for a mandatory digit. Within the final result string, these ten characters are used to represent the digits zero to nine.
In fn:format-integer, certain formatting pictures using a circumflex as a grouping separator might be interpreted differently in 4.0: for example format-integer(1234, "9^999") would output "1^234" in 3.1, but will output "1621" (1234 in base 9) with 4.0. As a workaround, this can be rewritten as format-integer(1234, "0^000").
In computed node constructors, the node name must now be written as a QName literal (with a preceding # character) if it matches certain language keywords. For example element div {} must now be written element #div {}. (Alternatively, element { "div" } {} and element Q{}div {} are permitted by both XQuery 3.1 and XQuery 4.0.) This change is made because {} is now a valid expression representing an empty map, so expressions such as element otherwise {} could (without this rule) be parsed in two different ways.
In a pragma, whitespace is now required after the opening (# and before the subsequent EQName. This change is made to ensure that an expression such as error(#err:XPTY0004) can be parsed as a function call taking a QName literal as its argument.
In XQuery 4.0, certain expressions are classified as implausible: an example is @code/text(), which will always return an empty sequence. A processor may report a static error when such expressions are encountered; however, processors are required to provide a mode of operation in which such expressions are accepted, thus retaining backwards compatibility.
In expressions that deliver a function item, notably partial function applications, named function references, and the fn:function-lookup function, errors may now be detected at the point where the function item is created when they were previously detected at the point where the function item was called. This was underspecified in previous versions. For example, the partial function application contains(?, 42) is now required to raise a type error (because the second argument should be a string, not an integer) at the point where the partial function application occurs, not at the point where the resulting function is called.
As explained in 3.4.3 Function Coercion, the fact that coercion rules are now applied to global variables and local variable bindings introduces an incompatibility in the case of variables whose value is a function item. Previously it was possible to supply a function item that accepted a wider range of argument values than those declared in the variable's type declaration; this is no longer the case.
Use of an unprefixed function name in a function declaration has a different meaning from XQuery 3.1. In 3.1 and previous versions, this declared a function in the default function namespace (which would cause an error unless the default function namespace was explicitly set to something other than the fn namespace). In XQuery 4.0, the function name will be in no namespace. The distinction will rarely be noticed, because an unprefixed function name in a call of such a function will still work in the same way. It could make a difference, however, if a function call uses a prefixed name in which the prefix is explicitly bound to the default function namespace.
Use the arrows to browse significant changes since the 3.1 version of this specification.
See 1 Introduction
Sections with significant changes are marked Δ in the table of contents.
See 1 Introduction
PR 691 2154
Enumeration types are added as a new kind of ItemType, constraining the value space of strings.
Setting the default namespace for elements and types to the special value ##any causes an unprefixed element name to act as a wildcard, matching by local name regardless of namespace.
The terms FunctionType, ArrayType, MapType, and RecordType replace FunctionTest, ArrayTest, MapTest, and RecordTest, with no change in meaning.
Record types are added as a new kind of ItemType, constraining the value space of maps.
Function coercion now allows a function with arity N to be supplied where a function of arity greater than N is expected. For example this allows the function true#0 to be supplied where a predicate function is required.
The symbols × and ÷ can be used for multiplication and division.
The rules for value comparisons when comparing values of different types (for example, decimal and double) have changed to be transitive. A decimal value is no longer converted to double, instead the double is converted to a decimal without loss of precision. This may affect compatibility in edge cases involving comparison of values that are numerically very close.
PR 1480 1989
When the element name matches a language keyword such as div or value, it must now be written as a QName literal. This is a backwards incompatible change.
See 4.12.3.1 Computed Element Constructors
When the attribute name matches a language keyword such as by or of, it must now be written as a QName literal. This is a backwards incompatible change.
PR 1513 2028
When the processing instruction name matches a language keyword such as try or validate, it must now be written with a preceding # character. This is a backwards incompatible change.
See 4.12.3.5 Computed Processing Instruction Constructors
When the namespace prefix matches a language keyword such as as or at, it must now be written with a preceding # character. This is a backwards incompatible change.
PR 1763 1830
The syntax on the right-hand side of an arrow operator has been relaxed; a dynamic function call no longer needs to start with a variable reference or a parenthesized expression, it can also be (for example) an inline function expression or a map or array constructor.
The arrow operator => is now complemented by a “mapping arrow” operator =!> which applies the supplied function to each item in the input sequence independently.
All implementations must now predeclare the namespace prefixes math, map, array, and err. In XQuery 3.1 it was permitted but not required to predeclare these namespaces.
PR 254 2050
The supplied context value is now coerced to the required type specified in the main module using the coercion rules.
Function definitions in the static context may now have optional parameters, provided this does not cause ambiguity across multiple function definitions with the same name. Optional parameters are given a default value, which can be any expression, including one that depends on the context of the caller (so an argument can default to the context value).
PR 682 TODO
The values true() and false() are allowed in function annotations, as well as negated numeric literals and QName literals.
A user-defined function whose name is given as an unprefixed QName is now in no namespace. In previous versions of the language, it represented a name in the default function namespace (which only worked if the default function namespace was explicitly set to an unreserved namespace, which was rarely done because it caused other problems).
PR 1023 1128
It has been clarified that function coercion applies even when the supplied function item matches the required function type. This is to ensure that arguments supplied when calling the function are checked against the signature of the required function type, which might be stricter than the signature of the supplied function item.
A dynamic function call can now be applied to a sequence of functions, and in particular to an empty sequence. This makes it easier to chain a sequence of calls.
Parts of the static context that were there purely to assist in static typing, such as the statically known documents, were no longer referenced and have therefore been dropped.
The syntax document-node(N), where N is a NameTestUnion, is introduced as an abbreviation for document-node(element(N)). For example, document-node(*) matches any well-formed XML document (as distinct from a document fragment).
See 3.2.7 Node Types
QName literals are new in 4.0.
Path expressions are extended to handle JNodes (found in trees of maps and arrays) as well as XNodes (found in trees representing parsed XML).
A method call invokes a function held as the value of an entry in a map, supplying the map implicitly as the value of the first argument.
PR 159
Keyword arguments are allowed on static function calls, as well as positional arguments.
PR 202
The presentation of the rules for the subtype relationship between sequence types and item types has been substantially rewritten to improve clarity; no change to the semantics is intended.
PR 230
The rules for “errors and optimization” have been tightened up to disallow many cases of optimizations that alter error behavior. In particular there are restrictions on reordering the operands of and and or, and of predicates in filter expressions, in a way that might allow the processor to raise dynamic errors that the author intended to prevent.
PR 254
The term "function conversion rules" used in 3.1 has been replaced by the term "coercion rules".
The coercion rules allow “relabeling” of a supplied atomic item where the required type is a derived atomic type: for example, it is now permitted to supply the value 3 when calling a function that expects an instance of xs:positiveInteger.
The value bound to a variable in a let clause is now converted to the declared type by applying the coercion rules.
The coercion rules are now used when binding values to variables (both global variable declarations and local variable bindings). This aligns XQuery with XSLT, and means that the rules for binding to variables are the same as the rules for binding to function parameters.
PR 284
Alternative syntax for conditional expressions is available: if (condition) { X }.
PR 286
Element and attribute tests can include alternative names: element(chapter|section), attribute(role|class).
See 3.2.7 Node Types
The NodeTest in an AxisStep now allows alternatives: ancestor::(section|appendix)
See 3.2.7 Node Types
Element and attribute tests of the form element(N) and attribute(N) now allow N to be any NameTest, including a wildcard.
PR 324
String templates provide a new way of constructing strings: for example `{$greeting}, {$planet}!` is equivalent to $greeting || ', ' || $planet || '!'
PR 326
Support for higher-order functions is now a mandatory feature (in 3.1 it was optional).
See 6 Conformance
PR 344
A for member clause is added to FLWOR expressions to allow iteration over an array.
PR 364
Switch expressions now allow a case clause to match multiple atomic items.
PR 368
The concept of the context item has been generalized, so it is now a context value. That is, it is no longer constrained to be a single item.
PR 433
Numeric literals can now be written in hexadecimal or binary notation; and underscores can be included for readability.
PR 483
The start clause in window expressions has become optional, as well as the when keyword and its associated expression.
PR 487
In XQuery 4.0, an initial set of namespace bindings is prescribed for the static context.
PR 493
A new variable $err:map is available, capturing all error information in one place.
PR 519
The rules for tokenization have been largely rewritten. In some cases the revised specification may affect edge cases that were handled in different ways by different 3.1 processors, which could lead to incompatible behavior.
PR 521
New abbreviated syntax is introduced (focus function) for simple inline functions taking a single argument. An example is fn { ../@code }
PR 587
Switch and typeswitch expressions can now be written with curly brackets, to improve readability.
PR 603
The rules for reporting type errors during static analysis have been changed so that a processor has more freedom to report errors in respect of constructs that are evidently wrong, such as @price/@value, even though dynamic evaluation is defined to return an empty sequence rather than an error.
PR 606
Element and attribute tests of the form element(A|B) and attribute(A|B) are now allowed.
PR 635
The rules for the consistency of schemas imported by different query modules, and for consistency between imported schemas and those used for validating input documents, have been defined with greater precision. It is now recognized that these schemas will not always be identical, and that validation with respect to different schemas may produce different outcomes, even if the components of one are a subset of the components of the other.
PR 659
In previous versions the interpretation of location hints in import schema declarations was entirely at the discretion of the processor. To improve interoperability, XQuery 4.0 recommends (but does not mandate) a specific strategy for interpreting these hints.
PR 678
The comparand expression in a switch expression can be omitted, allowing the switch cases to be provided as arbitrary boolean expressions.
PR 728
The syntax record(*) is allowed; it matches any map.
PR 753
The default namespace for elements and types can now be declared to be fixed for a query module, meaning it is unaffected by a namespace declaration appearing on a direct element constructor.
PR 815
The coercion rules now allow conversion in either direction between xs:hexBinary and xs:base64Binary.
PR 820
The value bound to a variable in a for clause is now converted to the declared type by applying the coercion rules.
PR 911
The coercion rules now allow any numeric type to be implicitly converted to any other, for example an xs:double is accepted where the required type is xs:decimal.
PR 943
A FLWOR expression may now include a while clause, which causes early exit from the iteration when a condition is encountered.
PR 996
The value of a predicate in a filter expression can now be a sequence of integers.
PR 1031
An otherwise operator is introduced: A otherwise B returns the value of A, unless it is an empty sequence, in which case it returns the value of B.
PR 1071
In map constructors, the keyword map is now optional, so map { 0: false(), 1: true() } can now be written { 0: false(), 1: true() }, provided it is used in a context where this creates no ambiguity.
PR 1132
Choice item types (an item type allowing a set of alternative item types) are introduced.
PR 1163
Filter expressions for maps and arrays are introduced.
PR 1181
The default namespace for elements and types can be set to the value ##any, allowing unprefixed names in axis steps to match elements with a given local name in any namespace.
If the default namespace for elements and types has the special value ##any, then an unprefixed name in a NameTest acts as a wildcard, matching names in any namespace or none.
The default namespace for elements and types can be set to the value ##any, allowing unprefixed names in axis steps to match elements with a given local name in any namespace.
PR 1197
The keyword fn is allowed as a synonym for function in function types, to align with changes to inline function declarations.
In inline function expressions, the keyword function may be abbreviated as fn.
PR 1212
New keywords introducing item types, such as record, item, and enum, have been added to the list of reserved function names.
PR 1217
Predicates in filter expressions for maps and arrays can now be numeric.
PR 1249
A for key/value clause is added to FLWOR expressions to allow iteration over a map.
PR 1250
Several decimal format properties, including minus sign, exponent separator, percent, and per-mille, can now be rendered as arbitrary strings rather than being confined to a single character.
PR 1254
The rules concerning the interpretation of xsi:schemaLocation and xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation attributes have been tightened up.
PR 1265
The rules regarding the document-uri property of nodes returned by the fn:collection function have been relaxed.
PR 1342
The ordered { E } and unordered { E } expressions are retained for backwards compatibility reasons, but in XQuery 4.0 they are deprecated and have no useful effect.
See 4.15 Ordered and Unordered Expressions
The ordering mode declaration is retained for backwards compatibility reasons, but in XQuery 4.0 it is deprecated and has no useful effect.
PR 1344
Parts of the static context that were there purely to assist in static typing, such as the statically known documents, were no longer referenced and have therefore been dropped.
The static typing option has been dropped.
The static typing feature has been dropped.
See 6 Conformance
PR 1361
The term atomic value has been replaced by atomic item.
See 2.1.3 Values
PR 1384
If a type declaration is present, the supplied values in the input sequence are now coerced to the required type. Type declarations are now permitted in XPath as well as XQuery.
PR 1432
In earlier versions, the static context for the initializing expression excluded the variable being declared. This restriction has been lifted.
PR 1470
$err:stack-trace provides information about the current state of execution.
PR 1496
The context value static type, which was there purely to assist in static typing, has been dropped.
PR 1498
The EBNF operators ++ and ** have been introduced, for more concise representation of sequences using a character such as "," as a separator. The notation is borrowed from Invisible XML.
See 2.1 Terminology
The EBNF notation has been extended to allow the constructs (A ++ ",") (one or more occurrences of A, comma-separated, and (A ** ",") (zero or more occurrences of A, comma-separated.
The EBNF operators ++ and ** have been introduced, for more concise representation of sequences using a character such as "," as a separator. The notation is borrowed from Invisible XML.
See A.1 EBNF
See A.1.1 Notation
PR 1501
The coercion rules now apply recursively to the members of an array and the entries in a map.
PR 1532
Four new axes have been defined: preceding-or-self, preceding-sibling-or-self, following-or-self, and following-sibling-or-self.
See 4.6.4.1 Axes
PR 1577
The syntax record() is allowed; the only thing it matches is an empty map.
PR 1686
With the pipeline operator ->, the result of an expression can be bound to the context value before evaluating another expression.
PR 1696
Parameter names may be included in a function signature; they are purely documentary.
PR 1703
Ordered maps are introduced.
See 4.14.1 Maps
The order of key-value pairs in the map constructor is now retained in the constructed map.
PR 1874
The coercion rules now reorder the entries in a map when the required type is a record type.
PR 1898
The rules for subtyping of document node types have been refined.
PR 1914
A finally clause can be supplied, which will always be evaluated after the expressions of the try/catch clauses.
PR 1956
Private variables declared in a library module are no longer required to be in the module namespace.
Private functions declared in a library module are no longer required to be in the module namespace.
PR 1982
Whitespace is now required after the opening (# of a pragma. This is an incompatible change, made to ensure that an expression such as error(#err:XPTY0004) can be parsed as a function call taking a QName literal as its argument value.
PR 1991
Named record types used in the signatures of built-in functions are now available as standard in the static context.
PR 2026
The module feature is no longer an optional feature; processing of library modules is now required.
See 6 Conformance
PR 2030
The technical details of how validation works have been moved to the Functions and Operators specification. The XQuery validate expression is now defined in terms of the new xsd-validator function.
PR 2031
The terms XNode and JNode are introduced; the existing term node remains in use as a synonym for XNode where the context does not specify otherwise.
See 2.1.3 Values
JNodes are introduced
PR 2055
Sequences, arrays, and maps can be destructured in a let clause to extract their components into multiple variables.
PR 2094
A general expression is allowed within a map constructor; this facilitates the creation of maps in which the presence or absence of particular keys is decided dynamically.
PR 2115
This section describes and formalizes a convention that was already in use, but not explicitly stated, in earlier versions of the specification.
PR 2130
Operator is-not is introduced, as a complement to the operator is.
Operators precedes and follows are introduced as synonyms for operators << and >>.
PR 2134
The lookup operator ? can now be followed by an arbitrary literal, for cases where keys are items other than integers or NCNames. It can also be followed by a variable reference or a context value reference.