W3C

XQuery 4.0: An XML Query Language

W3C Editor's Draft 30 January 2024

This version:
https://qt4cg.org/pr/529/xquery-40/
Most recent version of XQuery:
https://qt4cg.org/specifications/xquery-40/
Most recent Recommendation of XQuery:
https://www.w3.org/TR/2017/REC-xquery-31-20170321/
Editor:
Michael Kay, Saxonica <mike@saxonica.com>

Please check the errata for any errors or issues reported since publication.

See also translations.


Abstract

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.

JSON is a lightweight data-interchange format that is widely used to exchange data on the web and to store data in databases. Many applications use JSON together with XML and HTML. XQuery 4.0 extends XQuery to support JSON as well as XML, adding maps and arrays to the data model and supporting them with new expressions in the language and new functions in [XQuery and XPath Functions and Operators 4.0]. A list of changes made since XQuery 3.1 can be found in K Change Log. These are the most important new features in XQuery 4.0:

  1. 4.14.1 Maps.

  2. 4.14.2 Arrays.

Status of this Document

This is a first proposal by the editor, with no official standing whatsoever. Comments are invited.


1 Introduction

As increasing amounts of information are stored, exchanged, and presented using XML, the ability to intelligently query XML data sources becomes increasingly important. One of the great strengths of XML is its flexibility in representing many different kinds of information from diverse sources. To exploit this flexibility, an XML query language must provide features for retrieving and interpreting information from these diverse sources.

As increasing amounts of JSON are used for lightweight data-exchange, an XML query language for Web data needs to handle JSON as well as XML and HTML.

XQuery is designed to meet the requirements identified by the W3C XML Query Working Group [XQuery 3.1 Requirements]. It is designed to be a language in which queries are concise and easily understood. It is also flexible enough to query a broad spectrum of XML information sources, including both databases and documents. The Query Working Group has identified a requirement for both a non-XML query syntax and an XML-based query syntax. XQuery is designed to meet the first of these requirements. XQuery is derived from an XML query language called Quilt [Quilt], which in turn borrowed features from several other languages, including XPath 1.0 [XML Path Language (XPath) Version 1.0], XQL [XQL], XML-QL [XML-QL], SQL [SQL], and OQL [ODMG].

[Definition: 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 [XQuery and XPath Data Model (XDM) 3.1].]

XQuery 4.0 is an extension of XPath 4.0. In general, any expression that is syntactically valid and executes successfully in both XPath 4.0 and XQuery 4.0 will return the same result in both languages. There are a few exceptions to this rule:

Because these languages are so closely related, their grammars and language descriptions are generated from a common source to ensure consistency, and their editors jointly work together.

XQuery 4.0 also depends on and is closely related to the following specifications:

[Definition: An XQuery 3.1 Processor processes a query according to the XQuery 3.1 specification. ] [Definition: An XQuery 3.0 Processor processes a query according to the XQuery 3.0 specification. ] [Definition: An XQuery 1.0 Processor processes a query according to the XQuery 1.0 specification. ]

This document specifies a grammar for XQuery 4.0, using the same basic EBNF notation used in [XML 1.0]. Unless otherwise noted (see A.3 Lexical structure), whitespace is not significant in queries. Grammar productions are introduced together with the features that they describe, and a complete grammar is also presented in the appendix [A XQuery 4.0 Grammar]. The appendix is the normative version.

In the grammar productions in this document, named symbols are underlined and literal text is enclosed in double quotes. For example, the following productions describe the syntax of a static function call:

[172]    FunctionCall    ::=    EQName ArgumentList /* xgc: reserved-function-names */
/* gn: parens */
[151]    ArgumentList    ::=    "(" ((PositionalArguments ("," KeywordArguments)?) | KeywordArguments)? ")"

The productions should be read as follows: A function call consists of an EQName followed by an ArgumentList. The argument list consists of an opening parenthesis, an optional list of one or more arguments (separated by commas), and a closing parenthesis.

This document normatively defines the static and dynamic semantics of XQuery 4.0. In this document, examples and material labeled as “Note” are provided for explanatory purposes and are not normative.

Certain aspects of language processing are described in this specification as implementation-defined or implementation-dependent.

2 Basics

2.1 Terminology

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.

2.1.1 Values

[Definition: In the data model, a value is always a sequence.]

[Definition: A sequence is an ordered collection of zero or more items.]

[Definition: An item is either an atomic value, a node, or a function item.]

[Definition: An atomic value is a value in the value space of an atomic type, as defined in [XML Schema 1.0] or [XML Schema 1.1].]

[Definition: A node is an instance of one of the node kinds defined in Section 6 Nodes DM31.] Each node has a unique node identity, a typed value, and a string value. In addition, some nodes have a name. The typed value of a node is a sequence of zero or more atomic values. The string value of a node is a value of type xs:string. The name of a node is a value of type xs:QName.

[Definition: A function item is an item that can be called using a dynamic function call.]

Maps (see 4.14.1 Maps) and arrays (see 4.14.2 Arrays) are specific kinds of function items.

[Definition: A sequence containing exactly one item is called a singleton.] An item is identical to a singleton sequence containing that item. Sequences are never nested—for example, combining the values 1, (2, 3), and ( ) into a single sequence results in the sequence (1, 2, 3). [Definition: A sequence containing zero items is called an empty sequence.]

[Definition: The term XDM instance is used, synonymously with the term value, to denote an unconstrained sequence of items.]

Element nodes have a property called in-scope namespaces. [Definition: 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.] For a given element, one namespace binding may have an empty prefix; the URI of this namespace binding is the default namespace within the scope of the element.

Note:

In [XML Path Language (XPath) Version 1.0], the in-scope namespaces of an element node are represented by a collection of namespace nodes arranged on a namespace axis, which is optional and deprecated in [XML Path Language (XPath) Version 3.1]. XQuery does not support the namespace axis and does not represent namespace bindings in the form of nodes.

However, where other specifications such as [XSLT and XQuery Serialization 3.1] refer to namespace nodes, these nodes may be synthesized from the in-scope namespaces of an element node by interpreting each namespace binding as a namespace node. An application that needs to create a set of namespace nodes to represent these bindings for an element bound to $e can do so using the following code.

in-scope-prefixes($e) ! namespace {.}{ namespace-uri-for-prefix(., $e)}

2.1.2 Namespaces and QNames

[Definition: 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.] When comparing two expanded QNames, the prefixes are ignored: the local name parts must be equal under the Unicode codepoint collation (Section 5.3.1 Collations FO31), and the namespace URI parts must either both be absent, or must be equal under the Unicode codepoint collation.

In the XQuery 4.0 grammar, QNames representing the names of elements, attributes, functions, variables, types, or other such constructs are written as instances of the grammatical production EQName.

[264]    EQName    ::=    QName | URIQualifiedName
[282]    QName    ::=    [http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml-names/#NT-QName]Names /* xgc: xml-version */
[263]    URILiteral    ::=    StringLiteral
[271]    URIQualifiedName    ::=    BracedURILiteral NCName /* ws: explicit */
[272]    BracedURILiteral    ::=    "Q" "{" (PredefinedEntityRef | CharRef | [^&{}])* "}" /* ws: explicit */
[283]    NCName    ::=    [http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml-names/#NT-NCName]Names /* xgc: xml-version */

The EQName production allows a QName to be written in one of three ways:

  • local-name only (for example, invoice).

    A name written in this form has no prefix, and the rules for determining the namespace depend on the context in which the name appears. This form is a lexical QName.

  • prefix plus local-name (for example, my:invoice).

    In this case the prefix and local name of the QName are as written, and the namespace URI is inferred from the prefix by examining the in-scope namespaces in the static context where the QName appears; the context must include a binding for the prefix. This form is a lexical QName.

  • URI plus local-name (for example, Q{http://example.com/ns}invoice).

    In this case the local name and namespace URI are as written, and the prefix is absent. This way of writing a QName is context-free, which makes it particularly suitable for use in queries that are generated by software. This form is a URIQualifiedName. If the BracedURILiteral has no content (for example, Q{}invoice) then the namespace URI of the QName is absent.

[Definition: A lexical QName is a name that conforms to the syntax of the QName production].

The namespace URI value in a URIQualifiedName is whitespace normalized according to the rules for the xs:anyURI type in Section 3.2.17 anyURI XS1-2 or Section 3.3.17 anyURI XS11-2. It is a static error [err:XQST0070] if the namespace URI for an EQName is http://www.w3.org/2000/xmlns/.

Here are some examples of EQNames:

This document uses the following namespace prefixes to represent the namespace URIs with which they are listed. Although these prefixes are used within this specification to refer to the corresponding namespaces, not all of these bindings will necessarily be present in the static context of every expression, and authors are free to use different prefixes for these namespaces, or to bind these prefixes to different namespaces.

  • xml = http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace

  • xs = http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema

  • xsi = http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance

  • fn = http://www.w3.org/2005/xpath-functions

  • map = http://www.w3.org/2005/xpath-functions/map

  • array = http://www.w3.org/2005/xpath-functions/array

  • math = http://www.w3.org/2005/xpath-functions/math

  • local = http://www.w3.org/2005/xquery-local-functions (see 5.18 Function Declarations.)

  • err = http://www.w3.org/2005/xqt-errors (see 2.4.2 Identifying and Reporting Errors).

This document also uses the namespace URI http://www.w3.org/2012/xquery for which no prefix is used in this document, which is reserved for use in this specification. It is currently used for annotations and option declarations that are defined by the XML Query Working Group.

[Definition: 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.] The term URI has been retained in preference to IRI to avoid introducing new names for concepts such as “Base URI” that are defined or referenced across the whole family of XML specifications.

Note:

In most contexts, processors are not required to raise errors if a URI is not lexically valid according to [RFC3986] and [RFC3987]. See 2.5.5 URI Literals and 4.13.1.2 Namespace Declaration Attributes for details.

2.2 Module Context and Expression Context

[Definition: The expression context for a given expression consists of all the information that can affect the result of the expression.]

[Definition: The module context for a given module consists of all the information that is accessible to top-level expressions in the module.] The context of a top-level expression is defined based on the context of the module in which it is defined: the context of the QueryBody is the context of the main module, and the context for evaluating a function body or for a variable’s initializing expression is defined based on the context of the module in which the function or variable is defined.

This information is organized into two categories called the static context and the dynamic context.

2.2.1 Static Context

[Definition: The static context of an expression is the information that is available during static analysis of the expression, prior to its evaluation.] This information can be used to decide whether the expression contains a static error.

The individual components of the static context are described below. Rules governing the initialization and alteration of these components can be found in C.1 Static Context Components.

  • [Definition: 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. ]

  • [Definition: 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 URI value is whitespace normalized according to the rules for the xs:anyURI type in Section 3.2.17 anyURI XS1-2 or Section 3.3.17 anyURI XS11-2.

    The statically known namespaces may include a binding for the zero-length prefix; however, this is used only in limited circumstances because the rules for resolving unprefixed QNames depend on how such a name is used.

    Note the difference between in-scope namespaces, which is a dynamic property of an element node, and statically known namespaces, which is a static property of an expression.

    Some namespaces are predefined; additional namespaces can be added to the statically known namespaces by namespace declarations, schema imports, or module imports in a Prolog, by a module declaration, and by namespace declaration attributes in direct element constructors.

  • [Definition: Default namespace for elements and types. This is a namespace URI, or absentDM31. This indicates how unprefixed QNames are interpreted when they appear in a position where an element name or type name is expected.]

    • If the value is set to a namespace URI, this namespace is used for any such unprefixed QName. The URI value is whitespace-normalized according to the rules for the xs:anyURI type in Section 3.2.17 anyURI XS1-2 or Section 3.3.17 anyURI XS11-2.

    • If the value is absentDM31, an unprefixed QName representing an element or type name is interpreted as being in no namespace.

  • [Definition: Default function namespace. This is either a namespace URI, or absentDM31. The namespace URI, if present, is used for any unprefixed QName appearing in a position where a function name is expected.] The URI value is whitespace-normalized according to the rules for the xs:anyURI type in Section 3.2.17 anyURI XS1-2 or Section 3.3.17 anyURI XS11-2

    In its simplest form its value is simply a whitespace-normalized xs:anyURI value (most commonly, the URI http://www.w3.org/2005/xpath-functions) to be used as the default namespace for unprefixed function names. However, the use of a more complex algorithm is not precluded, for example an algorithm which searches multiple namespaces for a matching name.

    In XQuery, a default function namespace can be declared in the prolog in a default function namespace declaration (see 5.14 Default Namespace Declaration); in the absence of such a declaration, the namespace http://www.w3.org/2005/xpath-functions is used.

  • [Definition: 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.] It includes the following three parts:

  • [Definition: In-scope variables. This is a mapping from expanded QName to type. 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.]

    Variable declarations in a Prolog are added to in-scope variables. An expression that binds a variable extends the in-scope variables, within the scope of the variable, with the variable and its type. Within the body of an inline function expression or user-defined function , the in-scope variables are extended by the names and types of the function parameters.

    The static type of a variable may either be declared in a query or inferred by static type inference as discussed in 2.3.3.1 Static Analysis Phase.

  • [Definition: Context value static type. This is a sequence type; it defines the static type of the context value within the scope of a given expression.]

  • [Definition: Item type aliases. This is a mapping from expanded QName to ItemTypes.]

    [Definition: A type alias is an expanded QName that is mapped to an ItemType in the item type aliases of the static context.]

    Item type aliases allow frequently used item types, especially complex item types such as record types, to be given simple names, to avoid repeating the definition every time it is used.

    Note:

    In XQuery, named item types can be declared in the Query Prolog.

  • [Definition: Statically known function definitions. This is a set of function definitions.]

    [Definition: A function definition contains information used to evaluate a static function call, including the name, parameters, and return type of the function.]

    The properties of a function definition include:

    • The function category, which is one of application, system, or external:

      • [Definition: 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.] The most common application functions are functions written by users in XQuery or XSLT.

      • [Definition: System functions include the functions defined in [XQuery and XPath 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 behavior of system functions follows the rules given for the individual function in this family of specifications, or in the specification of the particular processor implementation. A system function may have behavior that depends on the static or dynamic context of the caller (for example, comparing strings using the default collation from the dynamic context of the caller). Such functions are said to be context dependent.

      • [Definition: 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 Section 24.1 Extension Functions XT30. ] For example, an implementation might provide a set of implementation-defined external functions in addition to the core function library described in [XQuery and XPath Functions and Operators 4.0] or a host language.

      [Definition: 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.]

      Note:

      Some system functions, such as fn:position, fn:last, and fn:static-base-uri, exist for the sole purpose of providing information about the static or dynamic context of their caller.

      Note:

      Application functions are context dependent only to the extent that they define optional parameters with default values that are context dependent.

    • The function name, which is an expanded QName.

    • A (possibly empty) list of required parameters, each having:

    • A (possibly empty) list of optional parameters, each having:

    • A return type (a sequence type)

    • A (possibly empty) set of function annotations

      In XQuery, function annotations are described in 5.15 Annotations.

    • A body. The function body contains the logic that enables the function result to be computed from the supplied arguments and information in the static and dynamic context.

    The names of the parameters must be distinct.

    [Definition: 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.]

    The static context may contain several function definitions with the same name, but the arity ranges of two such function definitions must not overlap. For example, if two function definitions A and B have the same function name, then:

    • It is acceptable for A to have two required parameters and no optional parameters, while B has three required parameters and one optional parameter.

    • It is not acceptable for A to have one required parameter while B has three optional parameters.

    Note:

    Implementations must ensure that no two function definitions have the same expanded QName and overlapping arity ranges (even if the signatures are consistent).

    XQuery and XSLT enforce this rule by defining a static error if the rule is violated; but further constraints may be needed if an API allows external functions to be added to the static context.

    System functions (also commonly called built-in functions) are function definitions that are always present in the static context by virtue of rules in the host language; they will typically include the functions specified in [XQuery and XPath Functions and Operators 4.0].

    The function definitions are available for reference from a static function call, or from a named function reference.

  • [Definition: 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.] [Definition: 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 Section 5.3 Comparison of strings FO31.]

  • [Definition: 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.]

  • [Definition: Ordering mode. Ordering mode, which has the value ordered or unordered, affects the ordering of the result sequence returned by certain expressions, as discussed in 4.16 Ordered and Unordered Expressions.]

  • [Definition: 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 4.15.8 Order By Clause.] Its value may be greatest or least.

  • [Definition: Boundary-space policy. This component controls the processing of boundary whitespace by direct element constructors, as described in 4.13.1.4 Boundary Whitespace.] Its value may be preserve or strip.

  • [Definition: Copy-namespaces mode. This component controls the namespace bindings that are assigned when an existing element node is copied by an element constructor, as described in 4.13.1 Direct Element Constructors. Its value consists of two parts: preserve or no-preserve, and inherit or no-inherit.]

  • [Definition: Static Base URI. This is an absolute URI, used to resolve relative URIs during static analysis. ] For example, it is used to resolve module location URIs in XQuery, and the URIs in xsl:import and xsl:include in XSLT. All expressions within a module have the same static base URI. The Static Base URI can be set using a base URI declaration.

    Relative URI references are resolved as described in 2.5.6 Resolving a Relative URI Reference.

    At execution time, relative URIs supplied to functions such as fn:doc are resolved against the Executable Base URI, which may or may not be the same as the Static Base URI.

  • [Definition: Statically known documents. This is a mapping from strings to types. The string represents the absolute URI of a resource that is potentially available using the fn:doc function. The type is the static type of a call to fn:doc with the given URI as its literal argument. ] If the argument to fn:doc is a string literal that is not present in statically known documents, then the static type of fn:doc is document-node()?.

    Note:

    The purpose of the statically known documents is to provide static type information, not to determine which documents are available. A URI need not be found in the statically known documents to be accessed using fn:doc.

  • [Definition: Statically known collections. This is a mapping from strings to types. The string represents the absolute URI of a resource that is potentially available using the fn:collection function. The type is the type of the sequence of items that would result from calling the fn:collection function with this URI as its argument.] If the argument to fn:collection is a string literal that is not present in statically known collections, then the static type of fn:collection is item()*.

    Note:

    The purpose of the statically known collections is to provide static type information, not to determine which collections are available. A URI need not be found in the statically known collections to be accessed using fn:collection.

  • [Definition: Statically known default collection type. This is the type of the sequence of items that would result from calling the fn:collection function with no arguments.] Unless initialized to some other value by an implementation, the value of statically known default collection type is item()*.

  • [Definition: 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.]

    Each decimal format defines a set of properties, which control the interpretation of characters in the picture string supplied to the fn:format-number function, and also specify characters to be used in the result of formatting the number.

    The following properties specify characters used both in the picture string, and in the formatted number. In each case the value is a single character:

    • [Definition: decimal-separator is the character used to separate the integer part of the number from the fractional part, both in the picture string and in the formatted number; the default value is the period character (.)]

    • [Definition: exponent-separator is the character used to separate the mantissa from the exponent in scientific notation both in the picture string and in the formatted number; the default value is the Unicode Latin small letter e character (#x65).]

    • [Definition: grouping-separator is the character typically used as a thousands separator, both in the picture string and in the formatted number; the default value is the comma character (,)]

    • [Definition: percent is the character used both in the picture string and in the formatted number to indicate that the number is written as a per-hundred fraction; the default value is the percent character (%)]

    • [Definition: per-mille is the character used both in the picture string and in the formatted number to indicate that the number is written as a per-thousand fraction; the default value is the Unicode per mille sign character (#x2030)]

    • [Definition: zero-digit is the character used to represent the digit zero; the default value is the Unicode digit zero (#x30). 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: 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.]

    The following properties specify characters to be used in the picture string supplied to the fn:format-number function, but not in the formatted number. In each case the value must be a single character.

    • [Definition: digit is a character used in the picture string to represent an optional digit; the default value is the number sign character (#)]

    • [Definition: pattern-separator is a character used to separate positive and negative sub-pictures in a picture string; the default value is the semicolon character (;)]

    The following properties specify characters or strings that may appear in the result of formatting the number, but not in the picture string:

    • [Definition: infinity is the string used to represent the double value infinity (INF); the default value is the string "Infinity" ]

    • [Definition: NaN is the string used to represent the double value NaN (not a number); the default value is the string "NaN" ]

    • [Definition: minus-sign is the single character used to mark negative numbers; the default value is the hyphen-minus character (#x2D). ]

2.2.2 Dynamic Context

[Definition: The dynamic context of an expression is defined as information that is needed for the dynamic evaluation of an expression.] If evaluation of an expression relies on some part of the dynamic context that is absentDM31, a dynamic error is raised [err:XPDY0002].

The individual components of the dynamic context are described below. Rules governing the initialization and alteration of these components can be found in C.2 Dynamic Context Components.

The dynamic context consists of all the components of the static context, and the additional components listed below.

[Definition: The first three components of the dynamic context (context value, context position, and context size) are called the focus of the expression. ] The focus enables the processor to keep track of which items are being processed by the expression. If any component in the focus is defined, all components of the focus are defined.

[Definition: 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.]

[Definition: A singleton focus is a fixed focus in which the context value is a singleton item.]. With a singleton focus, the context value is a single item, the context position is 1, and the context size is 1.

Certain language constructs, notably the path operator E1/E2, the simple map operator E1!E2, and the predicate E1[E2], create a new focus for the evaluation of a sub-expression. In these constructs, E2 is evaluated once for each item in the sequence that results from evaluating E1. Each time E2 is evaluated, it is evaluated with a different focus. The focus for evaluating E2 is referred to below as the inner focus, while the focus for evaluating E1 is referred to as the outer focus. The inner focus is used only for the evaluation of E2. Evaluation of E1 continues with its original focus unchanged.

  • [Definition: The context value is the value currently being processed.] In many cases (but not always), the context value will be a single item. [Definition: 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 value is returned by an expression consisting of a single dot (.). When an expression E1/E2 or E1[E2] is evaluated, each item in the sequence obtained by evaluating E1 becomes the context value in the inner focus for an evaluation of E2.

    [Definition: 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 absentDM31, it is referred to as the initial context value. ]

  • [Definition: The context position is the position of the context value within the series of values currently being processed.] It changes whenever the context value changes. When the focus is defined, the value of the context position is an integer greater than zero. The context position is returned by the expression fn:position(). When an expression E1/E2 or E1[E2] is evaluated, the context position in the inner focus for an evaluation of E2 is the position of the context value in the sequence obtained by evaluating E1. The position of the first item in a sequence is always 1 (one). The context position is always less than or equal to the context size.

  • [Definition: The context size is the number of values in the series of values currently being processed.] Its value is always an integer greater than zero. The context size is returned by the expression fn:last(). When an expression E1/E2 or E1[E2] is evaluated, the context size in the inner focus for an evaluation of E2 is the number of items in the sequence obtained by evaluating E1.

  • [Definition: Variable values. This is a mapping from expanded QName to value. 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.]

  • [Definition: 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 function definitions in the dynamic context are used primarily by the fn:function-lookup function.

    If two function definitions in the dynamically known function definitions have the same name, then their arity ranges must not overlap.

    Note:

    The reason for allowing named functions to be available dynamically beyond those that are available statically is primarily to allow for cases where the run-time execution environment is significantly different from the compile-time environment. This could happen, for example, if a stylesheet or query is compiled within a web server and then executed in the web browser. The fn:function-lookup function allows dynamic discovery of resources that were not available statically.

  • [Definition: 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.]

  • [Definition: 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 Section 3.2.7.3 Timezones XS1-2 or Section 3.3.7 dateTime XS11-2 for the range of valid values of a timezone.]

  • [Definition: 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. ]

    URIs are resolved as described in 2.5.6 Resolving a Relative URI Reference.

    The function fn:static-base-uri, despite its name, returns the value of the Executable Base URI.

    In many straightforward processing scenarios, the Executable Base URI in the dynamic context will be the same as the Static Base URI for the corresponding expression in the static context. There are situations, however, where they may differ:

    • Some processors may allow the static analysis of a query or stylesheet to take place on a development machine, while execution of the query or stylesheet happens on a test or production server. In this situation, resources needed during static analysis (such as other modules of the query or stylesheet) will be located on the development machine, by reference to the Static Base URI, while resources needed during execution (such as reference data files) will be located on the production machine, accessed via the Executable Base URI.

    • When the fn:static-base-uri function is called within the initializing expression of an optional parameter in a function declaration, it returns the executable base URI of the relevant function call. This allows a user-written function to accept two parameters: a required parameter containing a relative URI, and an optional parameter containing a base URI. The optional parameter can be given a default value of fn:static-base-uri(), allowing the code in the function body to resolve the relative URI against the executable base URI of the caller.

  • [Definition: 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.]

    Note:

    Although the default collation is defined (in 4.0) as a property of the dynamic context, its value will in nearly all cases be known statically. The reason it is defined in the dynamic context is to allow a call on the fn:default-collation function to be used when defining the default value of an optional parameter to a user-defined function. In this situation, the actual value supplied for the parameter is taken from the dynamic context of the relevant function call.

  • [Definition: 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.]

  • [Definition: 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.]

  • [Definition: Default place. This is a geographical location used to identify the place where events happened (or will happen) when formatting dates and times using functions such as fn:format-date and fn:format-dateTime, 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.]

  • [Definition: 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.] The set of available documents is not limited to the set of statically known documents, and it may be empty.

    If there are one or more URIs in available documents that map to a document node D, then the document-uri property of D must either be absent, or must be one of these URIs.

    Note:

    This means that given a document node $N, the result of fn:doc(fn:document-uri($N)) is $N will always be true, unless fn:document-uri($N) is an empty sequence.

  • [Definition: 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.] The set of available text resources is not limited to the set of statically known documents, and it may be empty.

  • [Definition: 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. ] The set of available collections is not limited to the set of statically known collections, and it may be empty.

    For every document node D that is in the target of a mapping in available collections, or that is the root of a tree containing such a node, the document-uri property of D must either be absent, or must be a URI U such that available documents contains a mapping from U to D.

    Note:

    This means that for any document node $N retrieved using the fn:collection function, either directly or by navigating to the root of a node that was returned, the result of fn:doc(fn:document-uri($N)) is $N will always be true, unless fn:document-uri($N) is an empty sequence. This implies a requirement for the fn:doc and fn:collection functions to be consistent in their effect. If the implementation uses catalogs or user-supplied URI resolvers to dereference URIs supplied to the fn:doc function, the implementation of the fn:collection function must take these mechanisms into account. For example, an implementation might achieve this by mapping the collection URI to a set of document URIs, which are then resolved using the same catalog or URI resolver that is used by the fn:doc function.

  • [Definition: Default collection. This is the sequence of items that would result from calling the fn:collection function with no arguments.] The value of default collection may be initialized by the implementation.

  • [Definition: 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. ] There is no implication that the URIs in this sequence can be successfully dereferenced, or that the resources they refer to have any particular media type.

    Note:

    An implementation may maintain some consistent relationship between the available collections and the available URI collections, for example by ensuring that the result of fn:uri-collection(X)!fn:doc(.) is the same as the result of fn:collection(X). However, this is not required. The fn:uri-collection function is more general than fn:collection in that fn:collection allows access to nodes that might lack individual URIs, for example nodes corresponding to XML fragments stored in the rows of a relational database.

  • [Definition: Default URI collection. This is the sequence of URIs that would result from calling the fn:uri-collection function with no arguments.] The value of default URI collection may be initialized by the implementation.

  • [Definition: 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.]

    Note:

    A possible implementation is to provide the set of POSIX environment variables (or their equivalent on other operating systems) appropriate to the process in which the query is initiated .

2.3 Processing Model

XQuery 4.0 is defined in terms of the data model and the expression context.

Processing                          Model Overview

Figure 1: Processing Model Overview

Figure 1 provides a schematic overview of the processing steps that are discussed in detail below. Some of these steps are completely outside the domain of XQuery 4.0; in Figure 1, these are depicted outside the line that represents the boundaries of the language, an area labeled external processing. The external processing domain includes generation of XDM instances that represent the data to be queried (see 2.3.1 Data Model Generation), schema import processing (see 2.3.2 Schema Import Processing) and serialization (see 2.3.4 Serialization). The area inside the boundaries of the language is known as the query processing domain , which includes the static analysis and dynamic evaluation phases (see 2.3.3 Expression Processing). Consistency constraints on the query processing domain are defined in 2.3.5 Consistency Constraints.

2.3.1 Data Model Generation

The input data for a query must be represented as one or more XDM instances. This process occurs outside the domain of XQuery 4.0, which is why Figure 1 represents it in the external processing domain. Here are some steps by which an XML document might be converted to an XDM instance:

  1. A document may be parsed using an XML parser that generates an XML Information Set (see [XML Infoset]). The parsed document may then be validated against one or more schemas. This process, which is described in [XML Schema 1.0 Part 1] or [XML Schema 1.1 Part 1], results in an abstract information structure called the Post-Schema Validation Infoset (PSVI). If a document has no associated schema, its Information Set is preserved. (See DM1 in Fig. 1.)

  2. The Information Set or PSVI may be transformed into an XDM instance by a process described in [XQuery and XPath Data Model (XDM) 3.1]. (See DM2 in Fig. 1.)

The above steps provide an example of how an XDM instance might be constructed. An XDM instance might also be synthesized directly from a relational database, or constructed in some other way (see DM3 in Fig. 1.) XQuery 4.0 is defined in terms of the data model, but it does not place any constraints on how XDM instances are constructed.

[Definition: Each element node and attribute node in an XDM instance has a type annotation (described in Section 2.7 Schema Information DM31). The type annotation of a node is a reference to an XML Schema type. ] The type-name of a node is the name of the type referenced by its type annotation. If the XDM instance was derived from a validated XML document as described in Section 3.3 Construction from a PSVI DM31, the type annotations of the element and attribute nodes are derived from schema validation. XQuery 4.0 does not provide a way to directly access the type annotation of an element or attribute node.

The value of an attribute is represented directly within the attribute node. An attribute node whose type is unknown (such as might occur in a schemaless document) is given the type annotation xs:untypedAtomic.

The value of an element is represented by the children of the element node, which may include text nodes and other element nodes. The type annotation of an element node indicates how the values in its child text nodes are to be interpreted. An element that has not been validated (such as might occur in a schemaless document) is annotated with the schema type xs:untyped. An element that has been validated and found to be partially valid is annotated with the schema type xs:anyType. If an element node is annotated as xs:untyped, all its descendant element nodes are also annotated as xs:untyped. However, if an element node is annotated as xs:anyType, some of its descendant element nodes may have a more specific type annotation.

2.3.2 Schema Import Processing

The in-scope schema definitions in the static context may be extracted from actual XML schemas (see step SI1 in Figure 1) or may be generated by some other mechanism (see step SI2 in Figure 1). In either case, the result must satisfy the consistency constraints defined in 2.3.5 Consistency Constraints.

2.3.3 Expression Processing

XQuery 4.0 defines two phases of processing called the static analysis phase and the dynamic evaluation phase (see Fig. 1). During the static analysis phase, static errors, dynamic errors, or type errors may be raised. During the dynamic evaluation phase, only dynamic errors or type errors may be raised. These kinds of errors are defined in 2.4.1 Kinds of Errors.

Within each phase, an implementation is free to use any strategy or algorithm whose result conforms to the specifications in this document.

2.3.3.1 Static Analysis Phase

[Definition: 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).]

During the static analysis phase, the query is parsed into an internal representation called the operation tree (step SQ1 in Figure 1). A parse error is raised as a static error [err:XPST0003]. The static context is initialized by the implementation (step SQ2). The static context is then changed and augmented based on information in the prolog (step SQ3). If the Schema Aware Feature is supported, the in-scope schema definitions are populated with information from imported schemas. If the Module Feature is supported, the static context is extended with function declarations and variable declarations from imported modules. The static context is used to resolve schema type names, function names, namespace prefixes, and variable names (step SQ4). If a name of one of these kinds in the operation tree is not found in the static context, a static error ([err:XPST0008] or [err:XPST0017]) is raised (however, see exceptions to this rule in 3.6.3.2 Element Test and 3.6.3.4 Attribute Test.)

The operation tree is then normalized by making explicit the implicit operations such as atomization and extraction of Effective Boolean Values (step SQ5).

During the static analysis phase, a processor may perform type analysis. The effect of type analysis is to assign a static type to each expression in the operation tree. [Definition: 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.] This specification does not define the rules for type analysis nor the static types that are assigned to particular expressions: the only constraint is that the inferred type must match all possible values that the expression is capable of returning.

Examples of inferred static types might be:

  • For the expression concat(a,b) the inferred static type is xs:string

  • For the expression $a = $v the inferred static type is xs:boolean

  • For the expression $s[exp] the inferred static type has the same item type as the static type of $s, but a cardinality that allows the empty sequence even if the static type of $s does not allow an empty sequence.

  • The inferred static type of the expression data($x) (whether written explicitly or inserted into the operation tree in places where atomization is implicit) depends on the inferred static type of $x: for example, if $x has type element(*, xs:integer) then data($x) has static type xs:integer.

In XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0, rules for static type inferencing were published normatively in [XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Formal Semantics], but implementations were allowed to refine these rules to infer a more precise type where possible. In XQuery 3.1 and XPath 3.1, the rules for static type inferencing are entirely implementation-dependent.

Every kind of expression also imposes requirements on the type of its operands. For example, with the expression substring($a, $b, $c), $a must be of type xs:string (or something that can be converted to xs:string by the function calling rules), while $b and $c must be of type xs:double.

If the Static Typing Feature is in effect, a processor must raise a type error during static analysis if the inferred static type of an expression is not subsumed by the required type of the context where the expression is used. For example, the call of substring above would cause a type error if the inferred static type of $a is xs:integer; equally, a type error would be reported during static analysis if the inferred static type is xs:anyAtomicType.

If the Static Typing Feature is not in effect, a processor may raise a type error during static analysis only when one of the following conditions is met:

  1. When the inferred static type of an expression has no overlap (intersection) with the required type, and cannot be converted to the required type using the coercion rules. For example, given the call fn:upper-case($s), the processor may raise an error if the declared or inferred type of $s is xs:integer, but not if it is xs:anyAtomicType.

  2. When the only possible value of an expression that is consistent with the required type is the empty sequence. Consider for example the expression fn:codepoints-to-string(fn:tokenize($in)). Since fn:codepoints-to-string requires xs:integer* while fn:tokenize($in) delivers xs:string*, this expression can succeed only in the special case where the value is empty, so processors may report this as an error. An error must not be raised under this rule unless both the inferred static type and the required type permit values other than the empty sequence.

  3. When an ForwardStep or ReverseStep is used, and it is known during static analysis that the step will select no nodes.

    One example of this is an expression such as @price/text(): attribute nodes never have children, so this expression will never select anything.

    Another example arises when schema information is available: if it is known that the variable $emp holds a value of type schema-element(employee), and that no element of this type can have an attribute named @sallary (sic), then a type error may be reported if the expression $emp/@sallary is encountered.

    Note:

    A static error must not be reported simply because a predicate will always return false: the expression a[name()='b'] will always return an empty sequence, but it is not an error.

  4. When the KeySpecifier in a Lookup expression is such that the result of the lookup will inevitably be empty. For example if the context value is known to be of type record(longitude, latitude) then a static type error may be raised against the expression ?altitude.

For backwards compatibility, processors should provide an option to avoid reporting type errors in respect of constructs such as @a/@b that were executed without error in previous versions. Note in particular that the construct /.. was sometimes recommended in XPath 1.0 as the preferred way to denote an empty node-set.

Alternatively, if the Static Typing Feature is not in effect, the processor may defer all type checking until the dynamic evaluation phase.

2.3.3.2 Dynamic Evaluation Phase

[Definition: The dynamic evaluation phase is the phase during which the value of an expression is computed.] It is dependent on successful completion of the static analysis phase.

The dynamic evaluation phase can occur only if no errors were detected during the static analysis phase. If the Static Typing Feature is in effect, all type errors are detected during static analysis and serve to inhibit the dynamic evaluation phase.

The dynamic evaluation phase depends on the operation tree of the expression being evaluated (step DQ1), on the input data (step DQ4), and on the dynamic context (step DQ5), which in turn draws information from the external environment (step DQ3) and the static context (step DQ2). The dynamic evaluation phase may create new data-model values (step DQ4) and it may extend the dynamic context (step DQ5)—for example, by binding values to variables.

[Definition: Every value matches one or more sequence types. A value is said to have a dynamic type T if it matches (or is an instance of) the sequence type T.]

In many cases (but not all), one of the dynamic types that a value matches will be a subtype of all the others, in which case it makes sense to speak of “the dynamic type” of the value as meaning this single most specific type. In other cases (examples are empty maps and empty arrays) none of the dynamic types is more specific than all the others.

Note:

An atomic value has a type annotation which will always be a subtype of all the other types that it matches; we can therefore refer to this as the dynamic type of the atomic value without ambiguity.

A value may match a dynamic type that is more specific than the static type of the expression that computed it (for example, the static type of an expression might be xs:integer*, denoting a sequence of zero or more integers, but at evaluation time its value may be an instance of xs:integer, denoting exactly one integer).

If an operand of an expression does not have a dynamic type that is a subtype of the static type required for that operand, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004].

Even though static typing can catch many type errors before an expression is executed, it is possible for an expression to raise an error during evaluation that was not detected by static analysis. For example, an expression may contain a cast of a string into an integer, which is statically valid. However, if the actual value of the string at run time cannot be cast into an integer, a dynamic error will result. Similarly, an expression may apply an arithmetic operator to a value whose static type is xs:untypedAtomic. This is not a static error, but at run time, if the value cannot be successfully cast to a numeric type, a dynamic error will be raised.

When the Static Typing Feature is in effect, it is also possible for static analysis of an expression to raise a type error, even though execution of the expression on certain inputs would be successful. For example, an expression might contain a function that requires an element as its parameter, and the static analysis phase might infer the static type of the function parameter to be an optional element. This case is treated as a type error and inhibits evaluation, even though the function call would have been successful for input data in which the optional element is present.

2.3.4 Serialization

[Definition: Serialization is the process of converting an XDM instance to a sequence of octets (step DM4 in Figure 1.), as described in [XSLT and XQuery Serialization 3.1].]

Note:

This definition of serialization is the definition used in this specification. Any form of serialization that is not based on [XSLT and XQuery Serialization 3.1] is outside the scope of the XQuery 4.0 specification.

Note:

The EXPath Community Group has developed a File Module, which some implementations use to perform file system related operations such as listing, reading, or writing files or directories. Multiple files can be written from a single query.

An XQuery implementation is not required to provide a serialization interface. For example, an implementation may provide only a DOM interface (see [Document Object Model]) or an interface based on an event stream.

[XSLT and XQuery Serialization 3.1] defines a set of serialization parameters that govern the serialization process. If an XQuery implementation provides a serialization interface, it may support (and may expose to users) any of the serialization parameters listed (with default values) in C.1 Static Context Components. If an implementation does not support one of these parameters, it must ignore it without raising an error.

[Definition: 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.] Except for parameter-document, each option corresponds to a serialization parameter element defined in Section B Schema for Serialization Parameters SER31. The name of each option is the same as the name of the corresponding serialization parameter element, and the values permitted for each option are the same as the values allowed in the serialization parameter element. For QName values, prefixes are expanded to namespace URIs by means of the statically known namespaces, or if unprefixed, the default namespace for elements and types.

There is no output declaration for use-character-maps, it can be set only by means of a parameter document. When the application requests serialization of the output, the processor may use these parameters to control the way in which the serialization takes place. Processors may also allow external mechanisms for specifying serialization parameters, which may or may not override serialization parameters specified in the query prolog.

The following example illustrates the use of declaration options.

declare namespace output = "http://www.w3.org/2010/xslt-xquery-serialization";
declare option output:method   "xml";
declare option output:encoding "iso-8859-1";
declare option output:indent   "yes";
declare option output:parameter-document "file:///home/me/serialization-parameters.xml";

An output declaration may appear only in a main module; it is a static error [err:XQST0108] if an output declaration appears in a library module. It is a static error [err:XQST0110] if the same serialization parameter is declared more than once. It is a static error [err:XQST0109] if the local name of an output declaration in the http://www.w3.org/2010/xslt-xquery-serialization namespace is not one of the serialization parameter names listed in C.1 Static Context Components or parameter-document, or if the name of an output declaration is use-character-maps. The default value for the method parameter is "xml". An implementation may define additional implementation-defined serialization parameters in its own namespaces.

If the local name of an output declaration in the http://www.w3.org/2010/xslt-xquery-serialization namespace is parameter-document, the value of the output declaration is treated as a URI literal. The value is a location hint, and identifies an XDM instance in an implementation-defined way. If a processor is performing serialization, it is a static error [err:XQST0119] if the implementation is not able to process the value of the output:parameter-document declaration to produce an XDM instance.

If a processor is performing serialization, the XDM instance identified by an output:parameter-document output declaration specifies the values of serialization parameters in the manner defined by Section 3.1 Setting Serialization Parameters by Means of a Data Model Instance SER31. It is a static error [err:XQST0115] if this yields a serialization error. The value of any other output declaration overrides any value that might have been specified for the same serialization parameter using an output declaration in the http://www.w3.org/2010/xslt-xquery-serialization namespace with the local name parameter-document declaration.

A serialization parameter that is not applicable to the chosen output method must be ignored, except that if its value is not a valid value for that parameter, an error may be raised.

A processor that is performing serialization must raise a serialization error if the values of any serialization parameters that it supports (other than any that are ignored under the previous paragraph) are incorrect.

A processor that is not performing serialization may report errors if any serialization parameters are incorrect, or may ignore such parameters.

Specifying serialization parameters in a query does not by itself demand that the output be serialized. It merely defines the desired form of the serialized output for use in situations where the processor has been asked to perform serialization.

Note:

The data model permits an element node to have fewer in-scope namespaces than its parent. Correct serialization of such an element node would require “undeclaration” of namespaces, which is a feature of [XML Names 1.1]. An implementation that does not support [XML Names 1.1] is permitted to serialize such an element without “undeclaration” of namespaces, which effectively causes the element to inherit the in-scope namespaces of its parent.

2.3.5 Consistency Constraints

In order for XQuery 4.0 to be well defined, the input XDM instances, the static context, and the dynamic context must be mutually consistent. The consistency constraints listed below are prerequisites for correct functioning of an XQuery 4.0 implementation. Enforcement of these consistency constraints is beyond the scope of this specification. This specification does not define the result of a query under any condition in which one or more of these constraints is not satisfied.

  • For every node that has a type annotation, if that type annotation is found in the in-scope schema definitions (ISSD), then its definition in the ISSD must be equivalent to its definition in the type annotation.

  • Every element name, attribute name, or schema type name referenced in in-scope variables or statically known function definitions must be in the in-scope schema definitions, unless it is an element name referenced as part of an ElementTest or an attribute name referenced as part of an AttributeTest.

  • Any reference to a global element, attribute, or type name in the in-scope schema definitions must have a corresponding element, attribute or type definition in the in-scope schema definitions.

  • For each mapping of a string to a document node in available documents, if there exists a mapping of the same string to a document type in statically known documents, the document node must match the document type, using the matching rules in 3.5 Sequence Type Matching.

  • For each mapping of a string to a sequence of items in available collections, if there exists a mapping of the same string to a type in statically known collections, the sequence of items must match the type, using the matching rules in 3.5 Sequence Type Matching.

  • The sequence of items in the default collection must match the statically known default collection type, using the matching rules in 3.5 Sequence Type Matching.

  • The context value must match the context value static type, using the matching rules in 3.5 Sequence Type Matching.

  • For each (variable, type) pair in in-scope variables and the corresponding (variable, value) pair in variable values such that the variable names are equal, the value must match the type, using the matching rules in 3.5 Sequence Type Matching.

  • For each variable declared as external, if the variable declaration does not include a VarDefaultValue, the external environment must provide a value for the variable.

    For each variable declared as external for which the external environment provides a value: If the variable declaration includes a declared type, the value provided by the external environment must match the declared type, using the matching rules in 3.5 Sequence Type Matching. If the variable declaration does not include a declared type, the external environment must provide a type to accompany the value provided, using the same matching rules.

  • For each function declared as external: the function’s implementation must either return a value that matches the declared result type, using the matching rules in 3.5 Sequence Type Matching, or raise an implementation-defined error.

  • For a given query, define a participating ISSD as the in-scope schema definitions of a module that is used in evaluating the query. If two participating ISSDs contain a definition for the same schema type, element name, or attribute name, the definitions must be equivalent in both ISSDs. In this context, equivalence means that validating an instance against type T in one ISSD will always have the same effect as validating the same instance against type T in the other ISSD (that is, it will produce the same PSVI, insofar as the PSVI is used during subsequent processing). This means, for example, that the membership of the substitution group of an element declaration in one ISSD must be the same as that of the corresponding element declaration in the other ISSD; that the set of types derived by extension from a given type must be the same; and that in the presence of a strict or lax wildcard, the set of global element (or attribute) declarations capable of matching the wildcard must be the same.

  • In the statically known namespaces, the prefix xml must not be bound to any namespace URI other than http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace, and no prefix other than xml may be bound to this namespace URI. The prefix xmlns must not be bound to any namespace URI, and no prefix may be bound to the namespace URI http://www.w3.org/2000/xmlns/.

2.4 Error Handling

2.4.1 Kinds of Errors

As described in 2.3.3 Expression Processing, XQuery 4.0 defines a static analysis phase, which does not depend on input data, and a dynamic evaluation phase, which does depend on input data. Errors may be raised during each phase.

[Definition: An error that can be detected during the static analysis phase, and is not a type error, is a static error.] A syntax error is an example of a static error.

[Definition: A dynamic error is an error that must be detected during the dynamic evaluation phase and may be detected during the static analysis phase.] Numeric overflow is an example of a dynamic error.

[Definition: 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.]

The outcome of the static analysis phase is either success or one or more type errors, static errors, or statically detected dynamic errors. The result of the dynamic evaluation phase is either a result value, a type error, or a dynamic error.

If more than one error is present, or if an error condition comes within the scope of more than one error defined in this specification, then any non-empty subset of these errors may be reported.

During the static analysis phase, if the Static Typing Feature is in effect and the static type assigned to an expression other than () or data(()) is empty-sequence(), a static error is raised [err:XPST0005]. This catches cases in which a query refers to an element or attribute that is not present in the in-scope schema definitions, possibly because of a spelling error.

Independently of whether the Static Typing Feature is in effect, if an implementation can determine during the static analysis phase that a QueryBody , if evaluated, would necessarily raise a dynamic error or that an expression, if evaluated, would necessarily raise a type error, the implementation may (but is not required to) report that error during the static analysis phase.

An implementation can raise a dynamic error for a QueryBody statically only if the query can never execute without raising that error, as in the following example:

error()

The following example contains a type error, which can be reported statically even if the implementation can not prove that the expression will actually be evaluated.

if (empty($arg))
then
  "cat" * 2
else
  0

[Definition: 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.]

In addition to the errors defined in this specification, an implementation may raise a dynamic error for a reason beyond the scope of this specification. For example, limitations may exist on the maximum numbers or sizes of various objects. An error must be raised if such a limitation is exceeded [err:XPDY0130].

2.4.2 Identifying and Reporting Errors

The errors defined in this specification are identified by QNames that have the form err:XXYYnnnn, where:

  • err denotes the namespace for XPath and XQuery errors, http://www.w3.org/2005/xqt-errors. This binding of the namespace prefix err is used for convenience in this document, and is not normative.

  • XX denotes the language in which the error is defined, using the following encoding:

    • XP denotes an error defined by XPath. Such an error may also occur XQuery since XQuery includes XPath as a subset.

    • XQ denotes an error defined by XQuery (or an error originally defined by XQuery and later added to XPath).

  • YY denotes the error category, using the following encoding:

    • ST denotes a static error.

    • DY denotes a dynamic error.

    • TY denotes a type error.

  • nnnn is a unique numeric code.

Note:

The namespace URI for XPath and XQuery errors is not expected to change from one version of XQuery to another. However, the contents of this namespace may be extended to include additional error definitions.

The method by which an XQuery 4.0 processor reports error information to the external environment is implementation-defined.

An error can be represented by a URI reference that is derived from the error QName as follows: an error with namespace URI NS and local part LP can be represented as the URI reference NS # LP . For example, an error whose QName is err:XPST0017 could be represented as http://www.w3.org/2005/xqt-errors#XPST0017.

Note:

Along with a code identifying an error, implementations may wish to return additional information, such as the location of the error or the processing phase in which it was detected. If an implementation chooses to do so, then the mechanism that it uses to return this information is implementation-defined.

2.4.3 Handling Dynamic Errors

Except as noted in this document, if any operand of an expression raises a dynamic error, the expression also raises a dynamic error. If an expression can validly return a value or raise a dynamic error, the implementation may choose to return the value or raise the dynamic error (see 2.4.4 Errors and Optimization). For example, the logical expression expr1 and expr2 may return the value false if either operand returns false, or may raise a dynamic error if either operand raises a dynamic error.

If more than one operand of an expression raises an error, the implementation may choose which error is raised by the expression. For example, in this expression:

($x div $y) + xs:decimal($z)

both the sub-expressions ($x div $y) and xs:decimal($z) may raise an error. The implementation may choose which error is raised by the + expression. Once one operand raises an error, the implementation is not required, but is permitted, to evaluate any other operands.

[Definition: In addition to its identifying QName, a dynamic error may also carry a descriptive string and one or more additional values called error values.] An implementation may provide a mechanism whereby an application-defined error handler can process error values and produce diagnostic messages. XQuery 3.1 provides standard error handling via Section 3.17 Try/Catch Expressions XQ31.

A dynamic error may be raised by a system function or operator. For example, the div operator raises an error if its operands are xs:decimal values and its second operand is equal to zero. Errors raised by system functions and operators are defined in [XQuery and XPath Functions and Operators 4.0] or the host language.

A dynamic error can also be raised explicitly by calling the fn:error function, which always raises a dynamic error and never returns a value. This function is defined in Section 3.1.1 fn:error FO31. For example, the following function call raises a dynamic error, providing a QName that identifies the error, a descriptive string, and a diagnostic value (assuming that the prefix app is bound to a namespace containing application-defined error codes):

error(xs:QName("app:err057"), "Unexpected value", string($v))

2.4.4 Errors and Optimization

Because different implementations may choose to evaluate or optimize an expression in different ways, certain aspects of raising dynamic errors are implementation-dependent, as described in this section.

An implementation is always free to evaluate the operands of an operator in any order.

In some cases, a processor can determine the result of an expression without accessing all the data that would be implied by the formal expression semantics. For example, the formal description of filter expressions suggests that $s[1] should be evaluated by examining all the items in sequence $s, and selecting all those that satisfy the predicate position()=1. In practice, many implementations will recognize that they can evaluate this expression by taking the first item in the sequence and then exiting. If $s is defined by an expression such as //book[author eq 'Berners-Lee'], then this strategy may avoid a complete scan of a large document and may therefore greatly improve performance. However, a consequence of this strategy is that a dynamic error or type error that would be detected if the expression semantics were followed literally might not be detected at all if the evaluation exits early. In this example, such an error might occur if there is a book element in the input data with more than one author subelement.

The extent to which a processor may optimize its access to data, at the cost of not raising errors, is defined by the following rules.

Consider an expression Q that has an operand (sub-expression) E. In general the value of E is a sequence. At an intermediate stage during evaluation of the sequence, some of its items will be known and others will be unknown. If, at such an intermediate stage of evaluation, a processor is able to establish that there are only two possible outcomes of evaluating Q, namely the value V or an error, then the processor may deliver the result V without evaluating further items in the operand E. For this purpose, two values are considered to represent the same outcome if their items are pairwise the same, where nodes are the same if they have the same identity, and values are the same if they are equal and have exactly the same type.

There is an exception to this rule: If a processor evaluates an operand E (wholly or in part), then it is required to establish that the actual value of the operand E does not violate any constraints on its cardinality. For example, the expression $e eq 0 results in a type error if the value of $e contains two or more items. A processor is not allowed to decide, after evaluating the first item in the value of $e and finding it equal to zero, that the only possible outcomes are the value true or a type error caused by the cardinality violation. It must establish that the value of $e contains no more than one item.

These rules apply to all the operands of an expression considered in combination: thus if an expression has two operands E1 and E2, it may be evaluated using any samples of the respective sequences that satisfy the above rules.

The rules cascade: if A is an operand of B and B is an operand of C, then the processor needs to evaluate only a sufficient sample of B to determine the value of C, and needs to evaluate only a sufficient sample of A to determine this sample of B.

The effect of these rules is that the processor is free to stop examining further items in a sequence as soon as it can establish that further items would not affect the result except possibly by causing an error. For example, the processor may return true as the result of the expression S1 = S2 as soon as it finds a pair of equal values from the two sequences.

Another consequence of these rules is that where none of the items in a sequence contributes to the result of an expression, the processor is not obliged to evaluate any part of the sequence. Again, however, the processor cannot dispense with a required cardinality check: if an empty sequence is not permitted in the relevant context, then the processor must ensure that the operand is not an empty sequence.

Examples:

  • If an implementation can find (for example, by using an index) that at least one item returned by $expr1 in the following example has the value 47, it is allowed to return true as the result of the some expression, without searching for another item returned by $expr1 that would raise an error if it were evaluated.

    some $x in $expr1 satisfies $x = 47
  • In the following example, if an implementation can find (for example, by using an index) the product element-nodes that have an id child with the value 47, it is allowed to return these nodes as the result of the path expression, without searching for another product node that would raise an error because it has an id child whose value is not an integer.

    //product[id = 47]

For a variety of reasons, including optimization, implementations may rewrite expressions into a different form. There are a number of rules that limit the extent of this freedom:

  • Other than the raising or not raising of errors, the result of evaluating a rewritten expression must conform to the semantics defined in this specification for the original expression.

    Note:

    This allows an implementation to return a result in cases where the original expression would have raised an error, or to raise an error in cases where the original expression would have returned a result. The main cases where this is likely to arise in practice are (a) where a rewrite changes the order of evaluation, such that a subexpression causing an error is evaluated when the expression is written one way and is not evaluated when the expression is written a different way, and (b) where intermediate results of the evaluation cause overflow or other out-of-range conditions.

    Note:

    This rule does not mean that the result of the expression will always be the same in non-error cases as if it had not been rewritten, because there are many cases where the result of an expression is to some degree implementation-dependent or implementation-defined.

  • The rules described in 2.4.5 Guarded Expressions ensure that for certain kinds of expression (for example conditional expressions), changing the order of evaluation of subexpressions does not result in dynamic errors that would not otherwise occur.

  • Expressions must not be rewritten in such a way as to create or remove static errors. The static errors in this specification are defined for the original expression, and must be preserved if the expression is rewritten.

  • As stated earlier, an expression must not be rewritten to dispense with a required cardinality check: for example, string-length(//title) must raise an error if the document contains more than one title element.

2.4.5 Guarded Expressions

[Definition: 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.]

For example, in a conditional expression if (P) then T else F, the subexpression T is guarded by P, and the subexpression F is guarded by not(P). One way an implementation can satisfy this rule is by not evaluating T unless P is true, and likewise not evaluating F unless P is false. Another way of satisfying the rule is for the implementation to evaluate all the subexpressions, but to catch any errors that occur in a guarded subexpression so they are not propagated.

The existence of this rule enables errors to be prevented by writing expressions such as if ($y eq 0) then "N/A" else ($x div $y). This example will never fail with a divide-by-zero error because the else branch of the conditional is guarded.

Similarly, in the mapping expression E1!E2, the subexpression E2 is guarded by the existence of an item from E1. This means, for example, that the expression (1 to $n)!doc('bad.xml') must not raise a dynamic error if $n is zero. The rule governing evaluation of guarded expressions is phrased so as not to disallow “loop-lifting” or “constant-folding” optimizations whose aim is to avoid repeated evaluation of a common subexpression; but such optimizations must not result in errors that would not otherwise occur.

The complete list of expressions that have guarded subexpressions is as follows:

  • In a conditional expression (IfExpr) the then branch is guarded by the condition being true, and the else branch is guarded by the condition being false.

  • In a switch expression (SwitchExpr), the return expression of a particular case is guarded by the condition for that case matching, and no earlier case matching.

  • In a typeswitch expression (TypeswitchExpr), the return expression of a particular case is guarded by the condition for that case matching, and no earlier case matching.

  • In an and expression (AndExpr), the second operand is guarded by the value of the first operand being true.

  • In an or expression (OrExpr), the second operand is guarded by the value of the first operand being false.

  • In an otherwise expression (OtherwiseExpr), the second operand is guarded by the value of the first operand being an empty sequence.

  • In a path expression of the form E1/E2 or E1//E2, and in a mapping expression of the form E1!E2, the right-hand operand E2 is guarded by the existence of at least one item in the result of evaluating E1.

    This rule applies even if E2 does not reference the context value. For example, no dynamic error can be thrown by the expression (1 to $n)!doc('bad.xml') in the case where $n is zero.

  • In a filter expression of the form E[P], the predicate P is guarded by the existence of at least one item in the result of evaluating E.

    This rule has the consequence that in a filter expression with multiple predicates, such as E[P1][P2], evaluation of P2 must not raise a dynamic error unless P1 returns true. This rule does not prevent reordering of predicates (for example, to take advantage of indexes), but it does require that any such reordering must not result in errors that would not otherwise occur.

  • In a FLWOR expression (FLWORExpr), an expression that is logically dependent on the tuples in the tuple stream is guarded by the existence of a relevant tuple. This applies even where the expression does not actually reference any of the variable bindings in the tuple stream. For example, in the expression for $x in S return E, the expression E is guarded by the existence of an item bound to $x.

    This means that the expression for $x in 1 to $n return doc('bad.xml') must not raise a dynamic error in the case where $n is zero.

  • In a quantified expression (QuantifiedExpr) such as some $x in S satisfies P, the expression P is guarded by the existence of an item bound to $x.

The fact that an expression is guarded does not remove the obligation to report static errors in the expression; nor does it remove the option to report statically detectable type errors.

Note:

These rules do not constrain the order of evaluation of subexpressions. For example, given an expression such as //person[@first="Winston"][@last="Churchill"], or equivalently //person[@first="Winston" and @last="Churchill"], an implementation might use an index on the value of @last to select items that satisfy the second condition, and then filter these items on the value of the first condition. Alternatively, it might evaluate both predicates in parallel. Or it might interpose an additional redundant condition: //person[string-length(@first)+string-length(@last)=16][@first="Winston"][@last="Churchill"]. But implementations must ensure that such rewrites do not result in dynamic errors being reported that would not occur if the predicates were evaluated in order as written.

Note:

Although the rules for guarded expressions prevent optimizations resulting in spurious errors, they do not prevent optimizations whose effect is to mask errors. For example, the rules guarantee that ("A", 3)[. instance of xs:integer][. eq 3] will not raise an error caused by the comparison ("A" eq 3), but they do not guarantee the converse: the expression ("A", 3)[. eq 3][. instance of xs:integer] may or may not raise a dynamic error.

Note:

The rules in this section do not disallow all expression rewrites that might result in dynamic errors. For example, rewriting ($x - $y + $z) as ($x + $z - $y) is permitted even though it might result in an arithmetic overflow.

Note:

Some implementations allow calls on external functions that have side-effects. The semantics of such function calls are entirely implementation defined. Processors may choose to reference the rules for guarded expressions when defining the behavior of such function calls, but this is outside the scope of the language specification.

2.4.6 Implausible Expressions

[Definition: Certain expressions, while not erroneous, are classified as being implausible, because there is a high probability that they were written incorrectly.]

An example of an implausible expression is @code/text(). This expression will always evaluate to an empty sequence, because attribute nodes cannot have text node children. The semantics of the expression are well defined, but it is likely that the user writing this expression intended something different.

Where an expression is classified (by rules in this specification) as being implausible, a processor may (but is not required to) raise a static error.

For reasons of backwards compatibility and interoperability, and to facilitate automatic generation of XQuery 4.0 code, a processor must provide a mode of operation in which implausible expressions are not treated as static errors, but are evaluated with the defined semantics for the expression.

2.5 Concepts

This section explains some concepts that are important to the processing of XQuery 4.0 expressions.

2.5.1 Document Order

An ordering called document order is defined among all the nodes accessible during processing of a given query , which may consist of one or more trees (documents or fragments). Document order is defined in Section 2.4 Document Order DM31, and its definition is repeated here for convenience. Document order is a total ordering, although the relative order of some nodes is implementation-dependent. [Definition: Informally, document order is the order in which nodes appear in the XML serialization of a document.] [Definition: 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.] [Definition: The node ordering that is the reverse of document order is called reverse document order.]

Within a tree, document order satisfies the following constraints:

  1. The root node is the first node.

  2. Every node occurs before all of its children and descendants.

  3. Attribute nodes immediately follow the element node with which they are associated. The relative order of attribute nodes is stable but implementation-dependent.

  4. The relative order of siblings is the order in which they occur in the children property of their parent node.

  5. Children and descendants occur before following siblings.

The relative order of nodes in distinct trees is stable but implementation-dependent, subject to the following constraint: If any node in a given tree T1 is before any node in a different tree T2, then all nodes in tree T1 are before all nodes in tree T2.

2.5.2 Atomization

The semantics of some XQuery 4.0 operators depend on a process called atomization. Atomization is applied to a value when the value is used in a context in which a sequence of atomic values is required. The result of atomization is either a sequence of atomic values or a type error [err:FOTY0012]FO31. [Definition: Atomization of a sequence is defined as the result of invoking the fn:data function, as defined in Section 2.4 fn:data FO31.]

The semantics of fn:data are repeated here for convenience. The result of fn:data is the sequence of atomic values produced by applying the following rules to each item in the input sequence:

  • If the item is an atomic value, it is returned.

  • If the item is a node, its typed value is returned (a type error [err:FOTY0012]FO31 is raised if the node has no typed value.)

  • If the item is a function item (other than an array) or map a type error [err:FOTY0013]FO31 is raised.

  • If the item is an array $a, atomization is defined as $a?* ! fn:data(.), which is equivalent to atomizing the members of the array.

    Note:

    This definition recursively atomizes members that are arrays. Hence, the result of atomizing the array [ [1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6] ] is the sequence (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).

Atomization is used in processing the following types of expressions:

  • Arithmetic expressions

  • Comparison expressions

  • Function calls and returns

  • Cast expressions

  • Constructor expressions for various kinds of nodes

  • order by clauses in FLWOR expressions

  • group by clauses in FLWOR expressions

  • Switch expressions

2.5.3 Effective Boolean Value

Under certain circumstances (listed below), it is necessary to find the effective boolean value of a value. [Definition: The effective boolean value of a value is defined as the result of applying the fn:boolean function to the value, as defined in Section 7.3.1 fn:boolean FO31.]

The dynamic semantics of fn:boolean are repeated here for convenience:

  1. If its operand is an empty sequence, fn:boolean returns false.

  2. If its operand is a sequence whose first item is a node, fn:boolean returns true.

  3. If its operand is a singleton value of type xs:boolean or derived from xs:boolean, fn:boolean returns the value of its operand unchanged.

  4. If its operand is a singleton value of type xs:string, xs:anyURI, xs:untypedAtomic, or a type derived from one of these, fn:boolean returns false if the operand value has zero length; otherwise it returns true.

  5. If its operand is a singleton value of any numeric type or derived from a numeric type, fn:boolean returns false if the operand value is NaN or is numerically equal to zero; otherwise it returns true.

  6. In all other cases, fn:boolean raises a type error [err:FORG0006]FO31.

    Note:

    For instance, fn:boolean raises a type error if the operand is a function, a map, or an array.

Note:

The effective boolean value of a sequence that contains at least one node and at least one atomic value is implementation-dependent in regions of a query where ordering mode is unordered.

The effective boolean value of a sequence is computed implicitly during processing of the following types of expressions:

  • Logical expressions (and, or)

  • The fn:not function

  • The where clause of a FLWOR expression

  • Certain types of predicates, such as a[b]

  • Conditional expressions (if)

  • Quantified expressions (some, every)

  • WindowStartCondition and WindowEndCondition in window clauses.

Note:

The definition of effective boolean value is not used when casting a value to the type xs:boolean, for example in a cast expression or when passing a value to a function whose expected parameter is of type xs:boolean.

2.5.4 Input Sources

XQuery 4.0 has a set of functions that provide access to XML documents (fn:doc, fn:doc-available), collections (fn:collection, fn:uri-collection), text files (fn:unparsed-text, fn:unparsed-text-lines, fn:unparsed-text-available), and environment variables (fn:environment-variable, fn:available-environment-variables). These functions are defined in Section 14.6 Functions giving access to external information FO31.

An expression can access input data either by calling one of these input functions or by referencing some part of the dynamic context that is initialized by the external environment, such as a variable or context value.

2.5.5 URI Literals

XQuery 4.0 requires a statically known, valid URI in a URILiteral or a BracedURILiteral. An implementation may raise a static error [err:XQST0046] if the value of a URI Literal or a Braced URI Literal is of nonzero length and is neither an absolute URI nor a relative URI.

As in a string literal, any predefined entity reference (such as &amp;), character reference (such as &#x2022;), or EscapeQuot or EscapeApos (for example, "") is replaced by its appropriate expansion. Certain characters, notably the ampersand, can only be represented using a predefined entity reference or a character reference.

Note:

The xs:anyURI type is designed to anticipate the introduction of Internationalized Resource Identifiers (IRIs) as defined in [RFC3987].

Whitespace is normalized using the whitespace normalization rules of fn:normalize-space. If the result of whitespace normalization contains only whitespace, the corresponding URI consists of the empty string. Whitespace normalization is done after the expansion of character references, so writing a newline (for example) as &#xA; does not prevent its being normalized to a space character.

A Braced URI Literal or URI Literal is not subjected to percent-encoding or decoding as defined in [RFC3986].

2.5.6 Resolving a Relative URI Reference

[Definition: 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).] During static analysis, the base URI is the Static Base URI. During dynamic evaluation, the base URI used to resolve a relative URI reference depends on the semantics of the expression.

Any process that attempts to resolve a URI against a base URI, or to dereference the URI, may apply percent-encoding or decoding as defined in the relevant RFCs.

3 Types

The type system of XQuery 4.0 is based on [XML Schema 1.0] or [XML Schema 1.1].

[Definition: 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. The term sequence type suggests that this syntax is used to describe the type of an XQuery 4.0 value, which is always a sequence.]

[Definition: 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.] With the exception of the generic types item(), which matches all items, and xs:error, which matches no items, the set of items matched by an item type consists either exclusively of atomic values, exclusively of nodes, or exclusively of function itemsDM31.

Note:

These definitions require a caveat: types defined in a schema may be anonymous, in which case they cannot be referenced directly using the ItemType or SequenceType syntax. For example an element that is validated against an anonymous complex type A conforms to an item type which could be written element(*, A) but for the fact that A is anonymous.

[Definition: A schema type is a type that is (or could be) defined using the facilities of [XML Schema 1.0] or [XML Schema 1.1] (including the built-in types).] A schema type can be used as a type annotation on an element or attribute node (unless it is a non-instantiable type such as xs:NOTATION or xs:anyAtomicType, in which case its derived types can be so used). Every schema type is either a complex type or a simple type; simple types are further subdivided into list types, union types, and atomic types (see [XML Schema 1.0] or [XML Schema 1.1] for definitions and explanations of these terms.)

Note:

Local union types (see 3.6.2.1 Local Union Types) and enumeration types (see 3.6.2.2 Enumeration Types) are classified as schema types, even though they are not defined in any XSD schema.

[Definition: A generalized atomic type is a schema type that is either (a) an atomic type or (b) a pure union type ].

[Definition: A pure union type is a simple type that satisfies the following constraints: (1) {variety} is union, (2) the {facets} property is empty, (3) no type in the transitive membership of the union type has {variety} list, and (4) no type in the transitive membership of the union type is a type with {variety} union having a non-empty {facets} property].

Note:

The definition of pure union type excludes union types derived by non-trivial restriction from other union types, as well as union types that include list types in their membership. Pure union types have the property that every instance of an atomic type defined as one of the member types of the union is also a valid instance of the union type.

Note:

The current (second) edition of XML Schema 1.0 contains an error in respect of the substitutability of a union type by one of its members: it fails to recognize that this is unsafe if the union is derived by restriction from another union.

This problem is fixed in XSD 1.1, but the effect of the resolution is that an atomic value labeled with an atomic type cannot be treated as being substitutable for a union type without explicit validation. This specification therefore allows union types to be used as item types only if they are defined directly as the union of a number of atomic types.

Note:

A local union type (see 3.6.2.1 Local Union Types) is always a pure union type

Generalized atomic types represent the intersection between the categories of sequence type and schema type. A generalized atomic type, such as xs:integer or my:hatsize, is both a sequence type and a schema type.

3.1 Predefined Schema Types

The schema types defined in Section 2.7.2 Predefined Types DM31 are summarized below.

The in-scope schema types in the static context are initialized with certain predefined schema types, including the built-in schema types in the namespace http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema, which has the predefined namespace prefix xs. The schema types in this namespace are defined in [XML Schema 1.0] or [XML Schema 1.1] and augmented by additional types defined in [XQuery and XPath Data Model (XDM) 3.1]. Element and attribute declarations in the xs namespace are not implicitly included in the static context. The schema types defined in [XQuery and XPath Data Model (XDM) 3.1] are summarized below.

  1. [Definition: xs:untyped is used as the type annotation of an element node that has not been validated, or has been validated in skip mode.] No predefined schema types are derived from xs:untyped.

  2. [Definition: 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.] An attribute that has been validated in skip mode is represented in the data model by an attribute node with the type annotation xs:untypedAtomic. No predefined schema types are derived from xs:untypedAtomic.

  3. [Definition: 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.]

  4. [Definition: xs:yearMonthDuration is derived by restriction from xs:duration. The lexical representation of xs:yearMonthDuration is restricted to contain only year and month components.]

  5. [Definition: xs:anyAtomicType is an atomic type that includes all atomic values (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.]

    Note:

    xs:anyAtomicType will not appear as the type of an actual value in an XDM instance.

  6. [Definition: xs:error is a simple type with no value space. It is defined in Section 3.16.7.3 xs:error XS11-1 and can be used in the 3.4 Sequence Types to raise errors.]

The relationships among the schema types in the xs namespace are illustrated in Figure 2. A more complete description of the XQuery 4.0 type hierarchy can be found in Section 1.6 Type System FO31.

Type Hierarchy Diagram

Figure 2: Hierarchy of Schema Types used in XQuery 4.0.

3.2 Namespace-sensitive Types

[Definition: 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.]

It is not possible to preserve the type of a namespace-sensitive value without also preserving the namespace binding that defines the meaning of each namespace prefix used in the value. Therefore, XQuery 4.0 defines some error conditions that occur only with namespace-sensitive values. For instance, casting to a namespace-sensitive type raises a type error [err:FONS0004]FO31 if the namespace bindings for the result cannot be determined.

3.3 Typed Value and String Value

Every node has a typed value and a string value, except for nodes whose value is absentDM31. [Definition: The typed value of a node is a sequence of atomic values and can be extracted by applying the Section 2.4 fn:data FO31 function to the node.] [Definition: The string value of a node is a string and can be extracted by applying the Section 2.3 fn:string FO31 function to the node.]

An implementation may store both the typed value and the string value of a node, or it may store only one of these and derive the other as needed. The string value of a node must be a valid lexical representation of the typed value of the node, but the node is not required to preserve the string representation from the original source document. For example, if the typed value of a node is the xs:integer value 30, its string value might be "30" or "0030".

The typed value, string value, and type annotation of a node are closely related, and are defined by rules found in the following locations:

As a convenience to the reader, the relationship between typed value and string value for various kinds of nodes is summarized and illustrated by examples below.

  1. For text and document nodes, the typed value of the node is the same as its string value, as an instance of the type xs:untypedAtomic. The string value of a document node is formed by concatenating the string values of all its descendant text nodes, in document order.

  2. The typed value of a comment or processing instruction node is the same as its string value. It is an instance of the type xs:string.

  3. The typed value of an attribute node with the type annotation xs:anySimpleType or xs:untypedAtomic is the same as its string value, as an instance of xs:untypedAtomic. The typed value of an attribute node with any other type annotation is derived from its string value and type annotation using the lexical-to-value-space mapping defined in [XML Schema 1.0] or [XML Schema 1.1] Part 2 for the relevant type.

    Example: A1 is an attribute having string value "3.14E-2" and type annotation xs:double. The typed value of A1 is the xs:double value whose lexical representation is 3.14E-2.

    Example: A2 is an attribute with type annotation xs:IDREFS, which is a list datatype whose item type is the atomic datatype xs:IDREF. Its string value is "bar baz faz". The typed value of A2 is a sequence of three atomic values ("bar", "baz"", "faz""), each of type xs:IDREF. The typed value of a node is never treated as an instance of a named list type. Instead, if the type annotation of a node is a list type (such as xs:IDREFS), its typed value is treated as a sequence of the generalized atomic type from which it is derived (such as xs:IDREF).

  4. For an element node, the relationship between typed value and string value depends on the node’s type annotation, as follows:

    1. If the type annotation is xs:untyped or xs:anySimpleType or denotes a complex type with mixed content (including xs:anyType), then the typed value of the node is equal to its string value, as an instance of xs:untypedAtomic. However, if the nilled property of the node is true, then its typed value is the empty sequence.

      Example: E1 is an element node having type annotation xs:untyped and string value "1999-05-31". The typed value of E1 is "1999-05-31", as an instance of xs:untypedAtomic.

      Example: E2 is an element node with the type annotation formula, which is a complex type with mixed content. The content of E2 consists of the character H, a child element named subscript with string value "2", and the character O. The typed value of E2 is "H2O" as an instance of xs:untypedAtomic.

    2. If the type annotation denotes a simple type or a complex type with simple content, then the typed value of the node is derived from its string value and its type annotation in a way that is consistent with schema validation. However, if the nilled property of the node is true, then its typed value is the empty sequence.

      Example: E3 is an element node with the type annotation cost, which is a complex type that has several attributes and a simple content type of xs:decimal. The string value of E3 is "74.95". The typed value of E3 is 74.95, as an instance of xs:decimal.

      Example: E4 is an element node with the type annotation hatsizelist, which is a simple type derived from the atomic type hatsize, which in turn is derived from xs:integer. The string value of E4 is "7 8 9". The typed value of E4 is a sequence of three values (7, 8, 9), each of type hatsize.

      Example: E5 is an element node with the type annotation my:integer-or-string which is a union type with member types xs:integer and xs:string. The string value of E5 is "47". The typed value of E5 is 47 as a xs:integer, since xs:integer is the member type that validated the content of E5. In general, when the type annotation of a node is a union type, the typed value of the node will be an instance of one of the member types of the union.

      Note:

      If an implementation stores only the string value of a node, and the type annotation of the node is a union type, the implementation must be able to deliver the typed value of the node as an instance of the appropriate member type.

    3. If the type annotation denotes a complex type with empty content, then the typed value of the node is the empty sequence and its string value is the zero-length string.

    4. If the type annotation denotes a complex type with element-only content, then the typed value of the node is absentDM31. The fn:data function raises a type error [err:FOTY0012]FO31 when applied to such a node. The string value of such a node is equal to the concatenated string values of all its text node descendants, in document order.

      Example: E6 is an element node with the type annotation weather, which is a complex type whose content type specifies element-only. E6 has two child elements named temperature and precipitation. The typed value of E6 is absentDM31, and the fn:data function applied to E6 raises an error.

3.4 Sequence Types

Whenever it is necessary to refer to a type in an XQuery 4.0 expression, the SequenceType syntax is used.

[222]    SequenceType    ::=    ("empty-sequence" "(" ")")
| (ItemType OccurrenceIndicator?)
[224]    ItemType    ::=    AnyItemTest | TypeName | KindTest | FunctionTest | MapTest | ArrayTest | AtomicOrUnionType | RecordTest | LocalUnionType | EnumerationType | ParenthesizedItemType
[223]    OccurrenceIndicator    ::=    "?" | "*" | "+" /* xgc: occurrence-indicators */

With the exception of the special type empty-sequence(), a sequence type consists of an item type that constrains the type of each item in the sequence, and a cardinality that constrains the number of items in the sequence. Apart from the item type item(), which permits any kind of item, item types divide into node types (such as element()), generalized atomic types (such as xs:integer) and function types (such as function() as item()*).

Lexical QNames appearing in a sequence type have their prefixes expanded to namespace URIs by means of the statically known namespaces and (where applicable) the default namespace for elements and types. Equality of QNames is defined by the eq operator.

Item types representing element and attribute nodes may specify the required type annotations of those nodes in the form of a schema type. Thus the item type element(*, us:address) denotes any element node whose type annotation is (or is derived from) the schema type named us:address.

The occurrence indicators +, *, and ? bind to the last ItemType in the SequenceType, as described in occurrence-indicators constraint.

Here are some examples of sequence types that might be used in XQuery 4.0:

  • xs:date refers to the built-in atomic schema type named xs:date

  • attribute()? refers to an optional attribute node

  • element() refers to any element node

  • element(po:shipto, po:address) refers to an element node that has the name po:shipto and has the type annotation po:address (or a schema type derived from po:address)

  • element(*, po:address) refers to an element node of any name that has the type annotation po:address (or a type derived from po:address)

  • element(customer) refers to an element node named customer with any type annotation

  • schema-element(customer) refers to an element node whose name is customer (or is in the substitution group headed by customer) and whose type annotation matches the schema type declared for a customer element in the in-scope element declarations

  • node()* refers to a sequence of zero or more nodes of any kind

  • item()+ refers to a sequence of one or more items

  • function(*) refers to any function item, regardless of arity or type

  • function(node()) as xs:string* refers to a function item that takes a single argument whose value is a single node, and returns a sequence of zero or more xs:string values

  • (function(node()) as xs:string)* refers to a sequence of zero or more function items, each of which takes a single argument whose value is a single node, and returns as its result a single xs:string value

3.5 Sequence Type Matching

[Definition: SequenceType matching compares a value with an expected sequence type. ] For example, an instance of expression returns true if a given value matches a given sequence type, and false if it does not.

An XQuery 4.0 implementation must be able to determine relationships among the types in type annotations in an XDM instance and the types in the in-scope schema definitions (ISSD). An XQuery 4.0 implementation must be able to determine relationships among the types in ISSDs used in different modules of the same query.

[Definition: The use of a value that has a dynamic type that is a subtype of the expected type is known as subtype substitution.] Subtype substitution does not change the actual type of a value. For example, if an xs:integer value is used where an xs:decimal value is expected, the value retains its type as xs:integer.

The definition of SequenceType matching relies on a pseudo-function named derives-from( AT, ET ), which takes an actual simple or complex schema type AT and an expected simple or complex schema type ET, and either returns a boolean value or raises a type error [err:XPTY0004]. This function is defined as follows:

  • derives-from( AT, ET ) raises a type error [err:XPTY0004] if ET is not present in the in-scope schema definitions (ISSD).

  • derives-from( AT, ET ) returns true if any of the following conditions applies:

    • AT is ET

    • ET is the base type of AT

    • ET is a pure union type of which AT is a member type

    • There is a type MT such that derives-from( AT, MT ) and derives-from( MT, ET )

  • Otherwise, derives-from( AT, ET ) returns false

The rules for SequenceType matching are given below, with examples (the examples are for purposes of illustration, and do not cover all possible cases).

An OccurrenceIndicator specifies the number of items in a sequence, as follows:

  • ? matches zero or one items

  • * matches zero or more items

  • + matches one or more items

As a consequence of these rules, any sequence type whose OccurrenceIndicator is * or ? matches a value that is an empty sequence.

3.6 Item Types

[224]    ItemType    ::=    AnyItemTest | TypeName | KindTest | FunctionTest | MapTest | ArrayTest | AtomicOrUnionType | RecordTest | LocalUnionType | EnumerationType | ParenthesizedItemType
[225]    AnyItemTest    ::=    "item" "(" ")"
[243]    TypeName    ::=    EQName
[227]    KindTest    ::=    DocumentTest
| ElementTest
| AttributeTest
| SchemaElementTest
| SchemaAttributeTest
| PITest
| CommentTest
| TextTest
| NamespaceNodeTest
| AnyKindTest
[229]    DocumentTest    ::=    "document-node" "(" (ElementTest | SchemaElementTest)? ")"
[237]    ElementTest    ::=    "element" "(" (NameTestUnion ("," TypeName "?"?)?)? ")"
[238]    SchemaElementTest    ::=    "schema-element" "(" ElementDeclaration ")"
[239]    ElementDeclaration    ::=    ElementName
[234]    AttributeTest    ::=    "attribute" "(" (NameTestUnion ("," TypeName)?)? ")"
[235]    SchemaAttributeTest    ::=    "schema-attribute" "(" AttributeDeclaration ")"
[236]    AttributeDeclaration    ::=    AttributeName
[241]    ElementName    ::=    EQName
[240]    AttributeName    ::=    EQName
[233]    PITest    ::=    "processing-instruction" "(" (NCName | StringLiteral)? ")"
[231]    CommentTest    ::=    "comment" "(" ")"
[232]    NamespaceNodeTest    ::=    "namespace-node" "(" ")"
[230]    TextTest    ::=    "text" "(" ")"
[228]    AnyKindTest    ::=    "node" "(" ")"
[244]    FunctionTest    ::=    Annotation* (AnyFunctionTest
| TypedFunctionTest)
[245]    AnyFunctionTest    ::=    "function" "(" "*" ")"
[246]    TypedFunctionTest    ::=    "function" "(" (SequenceType ("," SequenceType)*)? ")" "as" SequenceType
[262]    ParenthesizedItemType    ::=    "(" ItemType ")"
[247]    MapTest    ::=    AnyMapTest | TypedMapTest
[250]    RecordTest    ::=    AnyRecordTest | TypedRecordTest
[259]    ArrayTest    ::=    AnyArrayTest | TypedArrayTest
[226]    AtomicOrUnionType    ::=    EQName
[257]    LocalUnionType    ::=    "union" "(" ItemType ("," ItemType)* ")"
[258]    EnumerationType    ::=    "enum" "(" StringLiteral ("," StringLiteral)* ")"

This section defines the semantics of different ItemTypes in terms of the values that they match.

An item type written simply as an EQName (that is, a NamedType) is interpreted as follows:

  1. If the name is written as a lexical QName, then it is expanded using the in-scope namespaces in the static context. If the name is an unprefixed NCName, then it is expanded according to the default namespace for elements and types.

  2. If the name matches an entry in the item type aliases in the static context, then it is taken as a reference to the corresponding item type. The rules that apply are the rules for the expanded item type definition.

  3. Otherwise, it must match the name of a type in the in-scope schema types in the static context: specifically, an atomic type or a plain union type. See 3.6.2 Atomic and Union Types for details.

    Note:

    A name in the xs namespace will always fall into this category, since the namespace is reserved.

  4. If the name cannot be resolved to a type, a static error is raised [err:XPST0051].

3.6.1 General item types

  • item() matches any single item.

    Example: item() matches the atomic value 1, the element <a/>, or the function fn:concat#3.

  • A ParenthesizedItemType matches an item if and only if the item matches the ItemType that is in parentheses.

    Note:

    Parenthesized item types are used primarily when defining nested item types in a function signature. For example, a sequence of functions that each return a single boolean might be denoted (function() as xs:boolean)*. In this example the parentheses are needed to indicate where the occurrence indicator belongs.

3.6.2 Atomic and Union Types

A generalized atomic type may be expressed as an ItemType in any of the following ways:

An atomic value A matches the generalized atomic type GAT if the type annotation of A (call it T) satisfies the condition derives-from(T, GAT).

Example: The ItemType xs:decimal matches any value of type xs:decimal. It also matches any value of type shoesize, if shoesize is an atomic type derived by restriction from xs:decimal.

Example: Suppose ItemType dress-size is a union type that allows either xs:decimal values for numeric sizes (e.g. 4, 6, 10, 12), or one of an enumerated set of xs:strings (e.g. small, medium, large). The ItemType dress-size matches any of these values.

Note:

The names of list types such as xs:IDREFS are not accepted in this context, but can often be replaced by a generalized atomic type with an occurrence indicator, such as xs:IDREF+.

3.6.2.1 Local Union Types

A LocalUnionType defines an anonymous union type locally (for example, within a function signature) which may be more convenient than defining the type in an imported schema.

[257]    LocalUnionType    ::=    "union" "(" ItemType ("," ItemType)* ")"

Although the grammar allows any ItemType to appear, each ItemType must identify a generalized atomic type [err:XPST0147].

A LocalUnionType is a generalized atomic type. It is classified as a schema type even though it is not defined in any XSD schema.

An item matches a LocalUnionType if it matches any of the generalized atomic types listed within the parentheses.

For example, the type union(xs:date, xs:dateTime, xs:time) matches any value that is an instance of xs:date, xs:dateTime, or xs:time.

Similarly, the type union(xs:NCName, enum("")) matches any value that is either an instance of xs:NCName, or a zero-length string. This might be a suitable type for a variable that holds a namespace prefix.

Note:

Local union types are particularly useful in function signatures, allowing a function to take arguments of a variety of types. The semantics are identical to using a named union type, but a local union type is more convenient because it does not need to be defined in a schema, and does not require a schema-aware processor.

A local union type can also be used in a cast expression: cast @when as union(xs:date, xs:dateTime) allows the attribute @when to be either a date, or a dateTime.

An instance of expression can be used to test whether a value belongs to one of a number of specified types: $x instance of union(xs:string, xs:anyURI, xs:untypedAtomic) returns true if $x is an instance of any of these three atomic types.

3.6.2.2 Enumeration Types

[Definition: An EnumerationType accepts a fixed set of string values.]

[258]    EnumerationType    ::=    "enum" "(" StringLiteral ("," StringLiteral)* ")"

An EnumerationType has a value space consisting of a set of xs:string values. When matching strings against an enumeration type, strings are always compared using the Unicode codepoint collation.

For example, if an argument of a function declares the required type as enum("red", "green", "blue"), then the string "green" is accepted, while "yellow" is rejected with a type error.

Technically, enumeration types are defined as follows:

  • An enumeration type with a single enumerated value (such as enum("red")) is an atomic type derived from xs:string by restriction using an enumeration facet that permits only the value "red". This is referred to as a singleton enumeration type. It is equivalent to the XSD-defined type:

                   <xs:simpleType>
                     <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
                       <xs:enumeration value="red"/>
                     </xs:restriction>
                   </xs:simpleType>
  • Two singleton enumeration types are the same type if and only if they have the same (single) enumerated value, as determined using the Unicode codepoint collation.

  • An enumeration type with multiple enumerated values is a union of singleton enumeration types, so enum("red", "green", "blue") is equivalent to union(enum("red"), enum("green"), enum("blue")).

  • In consequence, an enumeration type T is a subtype of an enumeration type U if the enumerated values of T are a subset of the enumerated values of U: see 3.7.2 Subtypes of Item Types.

An enumeration type is thus a generalized atomic type.

It follows from these rules that an atomic value will only satisfy an instance of test if it has the correct type annotation, and this can only be achieved using an explicit cast or constructor function. So the expression "red" instance of enum("red", "green", "blue") returns false. However, the coercion rules ensure that where a variable or function declaration specifies an enumeration type as the required type, a string (or indeed an xs:untypedAtomic or xs:anyURI value) equal to one of the enumerated values will be accepted.

3.6.3 Node Types

Some of the constructs described in this section include a TypeName. This appears as T in:

  • element(N, T)

  • attribute(N, T)

  • document-node(element(N, T))

In these constructs, the type name T is expanded using the in-scope namespaces in the static context, using the default namespace for elements and types if it is unprefixed. The resulting QName must identify a type in the in-scope schema definitions. This can be any schema type: either a simple type, or (except in the case of attributes) a complex type. If it is a simple type then it can be an atomic, union, or list type. It can be a built-in type (such as xs:integer) or a user-defined type. It must however be the name of a type defined in a schema; it cannot be a type alias.

3.6.3.1 Simple Node Tests
  • node() matches any node.

  • text() matches any text node.

  • processing-instruction() matches any processing-instruction node.

  • processing-instruction( N ) matches any processing-instruction node whose PITarget is equal to fn:normalize-space(N). If the result of fn:normalize-space(N) is not in the lexical space of NCName, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004]

    Example: processing-instruction(xml-stylesheet) matches any processing instruction whose PITarget is xml-stylesheet.

    For backward compatibility with XPath 1.0, the PITarget of a processing instruction may also be expressed as a string literal, as in this example: processing-instruction("xml-stylesheet").

    If the specified PITarget is not a syntactically valid NCName, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004].

  • comment() matches any comment node.

  • namespace-node() matches any namespace node.

  • document-node() matches any document node.

  • document-node( E ) matches any document node that contains exactly one element node, optionally accompanied by one or more comment and processing instruction nodes, if E is an ElementTest or SchemaElementTest that matches the element node (see 3.6.3.2 Element Test and 3.6.3.3 Schema Element Test).

    Example: document-node(element(book)) matches a document node containing exactly one element node that is matched by the ElementTest element(book).

  • An ItemType that is an ElementTest, SchemaElementTest, AttributeTest, SchemaAttributeTest, or FunctionTest matches an item as described in the following sections.

3.6.3.2 Element Test
[237]    ElementTest    ::=    "element" "(" (NameTestUnion ("," TypeName "?"?)?)? ")"
[103]    NameTestUnion    ::=    NameTest ("|" NameTest)*
[146]    NameTest    ::=    EQName | Wildcard
[147]    Wildcard    ::=    "*"
| (NCName ":*")
| ("*:" NCName)
| (BracedURILiteral "*")
/* ws: explicit */
[243]    TypeName    ::=    EQName

An ElementTest is used to match an element node by its name and/or type annotation.

An unprefixed EQName within the NameTestUnion is interpreted according to the default namespace for elements and types. The name need not be present in the in-scope element declarations.

An unprefixed TypeName is interpreted according to the default namespace for elements and types. The TypeName must be present in the in-scope schema types [err:XPST0008]

Note:

Substitution groups do not affect the semantics of ElementTest.

An ElementTest ET matches an item E if the following conditions are satisfied:

  1. E is an element node.

  2. If ET includes a NameTestUnion, then the name of the element node E matches one or more of the NameTests in the NameTestUnion. A name N matches a NameTest NT if one of the following conditions is true:

    1. NT is *

    2. NT is *:local and the local part of N is local.

    3. NT is prefix:* and the namespace URI of N matches the namespace URI bound to prefix in the static context.

    4. NT is BracedURILiteral* and the namespace URI of N matches the namespace URI found in the BracedURILiteral.

    5. NT is an EQName equal to N.

  3. If ET includes a TypeName, then the type annotation of the element node E is either the schema type identified by that type name, or a type derived from that type by restriction.

  4. If E has the nilled property, then ET either includes no TypeName, or includes a TypeName followed by the symbol ?.

Here are some examples of ElementTests:

  1. element() and element(*) match any single element node, regardless of its name or type annotation.

  2. element(person) matches any element node whose name is person, in the default namespace for elements and types.

  3. element(doctor|nurse) matches any element node whose name is doctor or nurse, in the default namespace for elements and types.

  4. element(xhtml:*) matches any element node whose name is in the namespace bound to the prefix xhtml.

  5. element(xhtml:*|svg:*|mathml|*) matches any element node whose name is one of the three namespaces identified, specifically the namespaces bound to the prefixes xhtml, svg, and mathml.

  6. element(Q{"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"}*) matches any element node whose name is in the SVG namespace.

  7. element(*:html) matches any element node whose local name is "html", in any namespace.

  8. element(person, surgeon) matches a non-nilled element node whose name is person and whose type annotation is surgeon (or is derived from surgeon).

  9. element(person, surgeon?) matches a nilled or non-nilled element node whose name is person and whose type annotation is surgeon (or is derived from surgeon).

  10. element(*, surgeon) matches any non-nilled element node whose type annotation is surgeon (or is derived from surgeon), regardless of its name.

  11. element(*, surgeon?) matches any nilled or non-nilled element node whose type annotation is surgeon (or is derived from surgeon), regardless of its name.

3.6.3.3 Schema Element Test
[238]    SchemaElementTest    ::=    "schema-element" "(" ElementDeclaration ")"
[239]    ElementDeclaration    ::=    ElementName
[241]    ElementName    ::=    EQName

A SchemaElementTest matches an element node against a corresponding element declaration found in the in-scope element declarations.

The ElementName of a SchemaElementTest has its prefixes expanded to a namespace URI by means of the statically known namespaces, or if unprefixed, the is interpreted according to the default namespace for elements and types. If the ElementName specified in the SchemaElementTest is not found in the in-scope element declarations, a static error is raised [err:XPST0008].

A SchemaElementTest matches a candidate element node if all of the following conditions are satisfied:

  1. Either:

    1. The name N of the candidate node matches the specified ElementName, or

    2. The name N of the candidate node matches the name of an element declaration that is a member of the actual substitution group headed by the declaration of element ElementName.

    Note:

    The term “actual substitution group” is defined in [XML Schema 1.1]. The actual substitution group of an element declaration H includes those element declarations P that are declared to have H as their direct or indirect substitution group head, provided that P is not declared as abstract, and that P is validly substitutable for H, which means that there must be no blocking constraints that prevent substitution.

  2. The schema element declaration named N is not abstract.

  3. derives-from( AT, ET ) is true, where AT is the type annotation of the candidate node and ET is the schema type declared in the schema element declaration named N.

  4. If the schema element declaration named N is not nillable, then the nilled property of the candidate node is false.

Example: The SchemaElementTest schema-element(customer) matches a candidate element node in the following two situations:

  1. customer is a top-level element declaration in the in-scope element declarations; the name of the candidate node is customer; the element declaration of customer is not abstract; the type annotation of the candidate node is the same as or derived from the schema type declared in the customer element declaration; and either the candidate node is not nilled, or customer is declared to be nillable.

  2. customer is a top-level element declaration in the in-scope element declarations; the name of the candidate node is client; client is an actual (non-abstract and non-blocked) member of the substitution group of customer; the type annotation of the candidate node is the same as or derived from the schema type declared for the client element; and either the candidate node is not nilled, or client is declared to be nillable.

3.6.3.4 Attribute Test
[234]    AttributeTest    ::=    "attribute" "(" (NameTestUnion ("," TypeName)?)? ")"
[103]    NameTestUnion    ::=    NameTest ("|" NameTest)*
[146]    NameTest    ::=    EQName | Wildcard
[147]    Wildcard    ::=    "*"
| (NCName ":*")
| ("*:" NCName)
| (BracedURILiteral "*")
/* ws: explicit */
[243]    TypeName    ::=    EQName

An AttributeTest is used to match an attribute node by its name and/or type annotation.

An unprefixed EQName within the NameTestUnion refers to a name in no namespace. The name need not be present in the in-scope attribute declarations.

An unprefixed TypeName is interpreted according to the default namespace for elements and types. The TypeName must be present in the in-scope schema types [err:XPST0008]

An AttributeTest AT matches an item A if the following conditions are satisfied:

  1. A is an attribute node.

  2. If AT includes a NameTestUnion, then the name of the attribute node A matches one or more of the NameTests in the NameTestUnion. A name N matches a NameTest NT if one of the following conditions is true:

    1. NT is *

    2. NT is *:local and the local part of N matches local.

    3. NT is prefix:* and the namespace URI of N matches the namespace URI bound to prefix in the static context.

    4. NT is BracedURILiteral* and the namespace URI of N matches the namespace URI found in the BracedURILiteral.

    5. NT is an EQName equal to N.

  3. If AT includes a TypeName, then the type annotation of the attribute node A is either the schema type identified by that type name, or a type derived from that type by restriction.

Here are some examples of AttributeTests:

  • attribute() and attribute(*) match any single attribute node, regardless of its name or type annotation.

  • attribute(price) matches any attribute node whose name is price (in no namespace), regardless of its type annotation.

  • attribute(price|discount) matches any attribute node whose name is price or discount (in no namespace).

  • attribute(xlink:*) matches any attribute node whose name is in the namespace bound to the prefix xlink.

  • element(Q{"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"}*) matches any attribute node whose name is in the SVG namespace.

  • attribute(*:default-collation) matches any attribute node whose local name is default-collation, regardless of namespace, and regardless of type annotation.

  • attribute(*:price|*:discount) matches any attribute node whose local name is price or discount, regardless of namespace, and regardless of type annotation.

  • attribute(price, currency) matches an attribute node whose name is price (in no namespace) and whose type annotation is currency (or is derived from currency).

  • attribute(xlink:*, xs:string) matches any attribute node whose name is in the namespace bound to the prefix xlink, and whose type annotation is xs:string or a type derived from xs:string.

  • attribute(*, currency) matches any attribute node whose type annotation is currency (or is derived from currency), regardless of its name.

3.6.3.5 Schema Attribute Test
[235]    SchemaAttributeTest    ::=    "schema-attribute" "(" AttributeDeclaration ")"
[236]    AttributeDeclaration    ::=    AttributeName
[240]    AttributeName    ::=    EQName

A SchemaAttributeTest matches an attribute node against a corresponding attribute declaration found in the in-scope attribute declarations.

The AttributeName of a SchemaAttributeTest has its prefixes expanded to a namespace URI by means of the statically known namespaces. If unprefixed, an AttributeName is in no namespace. If the AttributeName specified in the SchemaAttributeTest is not found in the in-scope attribute declarations, a static error is raised [err:XPST0008].

A SchemaAttributeTest matches a candidate attribute node if both of the following conditions are satisfied:

  1. The name of the candidate node matches the specified AttributeName.

  2. derives-from( AT, ET ) is true, where AT is the type annotation of the candidate node and ET is the schema type declared for attribute AttributeName in the in-scope attribute declarations.

Example: The SchemaAttributeTest schema-attribute(color) matches a candidate attribute node if color is a top-level attribute declaration in the in-scope attribute declarations, the name of the candidate node is color, and the type annotation of the candidate node is the same as or derived from the schema type declared for the color attribute.

3.6.4 Function, Map, and Array Tests

The following sections describe the syntax for item types for function, including arrays and maps.

The subtype relation among these types is described in the various subsections of 3.7.2 Subtypes of Item Types.

3.6.4.1 Function Test
[244]    FunctionTest    ::=    Annotation* (AnyFunctionTest
| TypedFunctionTest)
[245]    AnyFunctionTest    ::=    "function" "(" "*" ")"
[246]    TypedFunctionTest    ::=    "function" "(" (SequenceType ("," SequenceType)*)? ")" "as" SequenceType

A FunctionTest matches a function item, potentially also checking its function signatureDM31 and annotations (see 5.15 Annotations). An AnyFunctionTest matches any item that is a function. A TypedFunctionTest matches an item if it is a function and the function’s type signature (as defined in Section 2.8.1 Functions DM31) is a subtype of the TypedFunctionTest.

Here are some examples of FunctionTests:

  1. function(*) matches any function, including maps and arrays.

  2. %assertion function(*) matches any function if the implementation-defined function assertion %assertion is satisfied.

  3. function(int, int) as int matches any function item with the function signature function(int, int) as int.

  4. %assertion function(int, int) as int matches any function item with the function signature function(int, int) as int if the implementation-defined function assertion %assertion is satisfied.

  5. function(xs:anyAtomicType) as item()* matches any map, or any function with the required signature.

  6. function(xs:integer) as item()* matches any array, or any function with the required signature.

[Definition: A function assertion is a predicate that restricts the set of functions matched by a FunctionTest. It uses the same syntax as 5.15 Annotations.] XQuery 4.0 does not currently define any function assertions, but future versions may. Other specifications in the XQuery family may also use function assertions in the future.

Implementations are free to define their own function assertions, whose behavior is completely implementation-defined. Implementations may also provide a way for users to define their own function assertions.

An implementation may raise implementation-defined errors or warnings for function assertions, e.g. if the parameters are not correct for a given assertion. If the namespace URI of a function assertion’s expanded QName is not recognized by an implementation, it is ignored, and has no effect on the semantics of the function test.

Note:

An implementation is free to raise warnings for function assertions that it does not recognize.

Note:

Although function assertions use the same syntax as annotations, they are not directly related to annotations. If an implementation defines the annotation blue and uses it in function declarations, there is no guarantee that it will also define a function assertion blue, or that a function assertion named blue matches a function declared with the annotation blue. Of course, an implementation that does so may be more intuitive to users.

Implementations must not define function assertions in reserved namespaces; it is is a static error [err:XQST0045] for a user to define a function assertion in a reserved namespace.

3.6.4.2 Map Test
[247]    MapTest    ::=    AnyMapTest | TypedMapTest
[248]    AnyMapTest    ::=    "map" "(" "*" ")"
[249]    TypedMapTest    ::=    "map" "(" ItemType "," SequenceType ")"

The MapTest map(*) matches any map. The MapTest map(X, Y) matches any map where the type of every key is an instance of X and the type of every value is an instance of Y.

Although the grammar for TypedMapTest allows the key to be described using the full ItemType syntax, the item type used must be a generalized atomic type. [TODO: error code].

Examples:

Given a map $M whose keys are integers and whose results are strings, such as map{0:"no", 1:"yes"}, consider the results of the following expressions:

  • $M instance of map(*) returns true()

  • $M instance of map(xs:integer, xs:string) returns true()

  • $M instance of map(xs:decimal, xs:anyAtomicType) returns true()

  • not($M instance of map(xs:int, xs:string)) returns true()

  • not($M instance of map(xs:integer, xs:token)) returns true()

Because of the rules for subtyping of function types according to their signature, it follows that the item type function(A) as item()*, where A is an atomic type, also matches any map, regardless of the type of the keys actually found in the map. For example, a map whose keys are all strings can be supplied where the required type is function(xs:integer) as item()*; a call on the map that treats it as a function with an integer argument will always succeed, and will always return an empty sequence.

The function signature of a map matching type map(K, V), treated as a function, is function(xs:anyAtomicType) as V?. It is thus always a subtype of function(xs:anyAtomicType) as item()* regardless of the actual types of the keys and values in the map. The rules for function coercion mean that any map can be supplied as a value in a context where the required type has a more specific return type, such as function(xs:anyAtomicType) as xs:integer, even when the map does not match in the sense required to satisfy the instance of operator. In such cases, a type error will occur only if an actual call on the map (treated as a function) returns a value that is not an instance of the required return type.

Examples:

  • $M instance of function(*) returns true()

  • $M instance of function(xs:anyAtomicType) as item()* returns true()

  • $M instance of function(xs:integer) as item()* returns true()

  • $M instance of function(xs:int) as item()* returns true()

  • $M instance of function(xs:string) as item()* returns true()

  • not($M instance of function(xs:integer) as xs:string) returns true()

Note:

The last case might seem surprising; however, function coercion ensures that $M can be used successfully anywhere that the required type is function(xs:integer) as xs:string.

Rules defining whether one map type is a subtype of another are given in 3.7.2.7 Maps.

3.6.4.3 Record Test
[250]    RecordTest    ::=    AnyRecordTest | TypedRecordTest
[251]    AnyRecordTest    ::=    "record" "(" "*" ")"
[252]    TypedRecordTest    ::=    "record" "(" FieldDeclaration ("," FieldDeclaration)* ExtensibleFlag? ")"
[253]    FieldDeclaration    ::=    FieldName "?"? ("as" (SequenceType | SelfReference))?
[254]    FieldName    ::=    NCName | StringLiteral
[255]    SelfReference    ::=    ".." OccurrenceIndicator?
[256]    ExtensibleFlag    ::=    "," "*"

A RecordTest matches maps that meet specific criteria.

For example, the RecordTest record(r as xs:double, i as xs:double) matches a map if the map has exactly two entries: an entry with key "r" whose value is a singleton xs:double value, and an entry with key "i" whose value is also a singleton xs:double value.

If the list of fields ends with ",*" then the record test is said to be extensible. For example, the RecordTest record(e as element(Employee), *) matches a map if it has an entry with key "e" whose value matches element(Employee), regardless what other entries the map might contain.

For generality, the syntax record(*) define an extensible record type that has no explicit field declarations. The item type denoted by record(*) is equivalent to the item type map(*): that is, it allows any map.

A record test can constrain only those entries whose keys are strings, but when the record test is marked as extensible, then other entries may be present in the map with non-string keys. Entries whose key is a string can be expressed using an (unquoted) NCName if the key conforms to NCName syntax, or using a (quoted) string literal otherwise.

Note:

Lookup expressions have been extended so that non-NCName keys can be used without parentheses: employee?"middle name"

If the type declaration for a field is omitted, then item()* is assumed: that is, the map entry may have any type.

If the field name is followed by a question mark, then the value must have the specified type if it is present, but it may also be absent. For example, the RecordTest record(first as xs:string, middle? as xs:string, last as xs:string, *) requires the map to have string-valued entries with keys "first" and "last"; it also declares that if the map has an entry with key "middle", the value of that entry must be a single xs:string. Declaring the type as record(first as xs:string, middle? as xs:string?, last as xs:string, *) also allows the entry with key "middle" to be present but empty.

Note:

Within an extensible record test, a FieldDeclaration that is marked optional and has no declared type does not constrain the map in any way, so it serves no practical purpose, but it is permitted because it may have documentary value.

If a field is declared using .. (optionally followed by an occurrence indicator) in place of a SequenceType, this indicates that the record type is recursive: the value of this field, if present, must be an instance of the record type being declared. For example, a record designed to hold error information might be declared as:

record(error-code as xs:QName, message as xs:string, cause? as ..)

A map conforms to this type if it has entries with keys error-code and message of the correct types, and if the cause entry is either absent, or is a map that itself conforms to this type.

A FieldDeclaration that a SelfReference to identify its type must either be optional (marked with a question mark after the name), or must allow the empty sequence as a permitted value (marked by using the occurrence indicator ? or * after the item type). If the field is not optional and does not allow an empty sequence, a static error is raised [err:XPST0140]. This rule ensures that finite instances of the type can be constructed.

A record used to represent a node in a binary tree might be represented as:

record(left? as .., value, right? as ..)

A function to walk this tree and enumerate all the values in depth-first order might be written (using XQuery syntax) as:

declare item-type binary-tree as
    record(left? as .., value, right? as ..);                 
declare function flatten($tree as binary-tree?) as item()* {
    $tree ! (flatten(?left), ?value, flatten(?right))   
}

 

A record used to represent a node in a tree where each node has an arbitrary number of children might be represented as:

record(value, children as ..*)

A function to walk this tree and enumerate all the values in order might be written (using XQuery syntax) as:

declare item-type tree as
    record(value, children as ..*);                 
declare function flatten($tree as tree) as item()* {
    $tree?value, $tree?children ! flatten(.))   
}

Note:

If a RecordTest contains a SelfReference field that is not optional, and whose type does not permit an empty sequence, then it will not be possible to construct an instance. So a RecordTest such as record(a as ..) serves no practical purpose; but it is not disallowed.

Record tests describe a subset of the value space of maps. They do not define any new kinds of values, or any additional operations. They are useful in many cases to describe more accurately the type of a variable, function parameter, or function result, giving benefits both in the readability of the code, and in the ability of the processor to detect and diagnose type errors and to optimize execution.

In particular, if a variable $rec is known to conform to a particular record type, then when a lookup expression $rec?field is used, (a) the processor can report a type error if $rec cannot contain an entry with name field (see 4.14.3.3 Implausible Lookup Expressions), and (b) the processor can make static type inferences about the type of value returned by $rec?field.

Note:

A number of functions in the standard function library use maps as function arguments; this is a useful technique where the information to be supplied across the interface is highly variable. However, the type signature for such functions typically declares the argument type as map(*), which gives very little information (and places very few constraints) on the values that are actually passed across. Using record tests offers the possibility of improving this: for example, the options argument of fn:parse-json, previously given as map(*), can now be expressed as record(liberal? as xs:boolean, duplicates? as xs:string, escape? as xs:boolean, fallback as function(xs:string) as xs:string, *). In principle the xs:string type used to describe the duplicates option could also be replaced by a schema-defined subtype of xs:string that enumerates the permitted values ("reject", "use-first", "use-last").

The use of a record test in the signature of such a function causes the coercion rules to be invoked. So, for example, if the function expects an entry in the map to be an xs:double value, it becomes possible to supply a map in which the corresponding entry has type xs:integer.

Greater precision in defining the types of such arguments also enables better type checking, better diagnostics, better optimization, better documentation, and better syntax-directed editing tools.

Note:

One of the motivations for introducing record tests is to enable better pattern matching in XSLT when processing JSON input. With XML input, patterns are often based around XML element names. JSON has no direct equivalent of XML’s element names; matching a JSON object such as {longitude: 130.2, latitude: 53.4} relies instead on recognizing the property names appearing in the object. XSLT 4.0, by integrating record tests into pattern matching syntax, allows such an object to be matched with a pattern of the form match="record(longitude, latitude)"

Rules defining whether one record type is a subtype of another are given in 3.7.2.9 Record Tests.

3.6.4.4 Array Test
[259]    ArrayTest    ::=    AnyArrayTest | TypedArrayTest
[260]    AnyArrayTest    ::=    "array" "(" "*" ")"
[261]    TypedArrayTest    ::=    "array" "(" SequenceType ")"

The AnyArrayTest array(*) matches any array. The TypedArrayTest array(X) matches any array in which every array member matches the SequenceType X.

Examples:

  • [ 1, 2 ] instance array(*) returns true()

  • [] instance of array(xs:string) returns true()

  • [ "foo" ] instance of array(xs:string) returns true()

  • [ "foo" ] instance of array(xs:integer) returns false()

  • [(1,2),(3,4)] instance of array(xs:integer) returns false()

  • [(1,2),(3,4)] instance of array(xs:integer+) returns true()

An array also matches certain other ItemTypes, including:

  • item()

  • function(*)

  • function(xs:integer) as item()*

The function signature of an array matching array(X), treated as a function, is function(xs:integer) as X. It is thus always a subtype of function(xs:integer) as item()* regardless of the actual member types in the array. The rules for function coercion mean that any array can be supplied as a value in a context where the required type has a more specific return type, such as function(xs:integer) as xs:integer, even when the array does not match in the sense required to satisfy the instance of operator. In such cases, a type error will occur only if an actual call on the array (treated as a function) returns a value that is not an instance of the required return type.

Rules defining whether one array type is a subtype of another are given in 3.7.2.8 Arrays.

3.6.5 xs:error

The type xs:error has an empty value space; it never appears as a dynamic type or as the content type of a dynamic element or attribute type. It was defined in XML Schema in the interests of making the type system complete and closed, and it is also available in XQuery 4.0 for similar reasons.

Note:

Even though it cannot occur in an instance, xs:error is a valid type name in a sequence type. The practical uses of xs:error as a sequence type are limited, but they do exist. For instance, an error-handling function that always raises a dynamic error never returns a value, so xs:error is a good choice for the return type of the function.

The semantics of xs:error are well defined as a consequence of the fact that xs:error is defined as a union type with no member types. For example:

  • $x instance of xs:error always returns false, regardless of the value of $x.

  • $x cast as xs:error fails dynamically with error [err:FORG0001]FO31, regardless of the value of $x.

  • $x cast as xs:error? raises a dynamic error [err:FORG0001]FO31 if exists($x) returns true, and evaluates to the empty sequence if empty($x) returns true.

  • xs:error($x) has the same semantics as $x cast as xs:error? (see the previous bullet point)

  • $x castable as xs:error evaluates to false, regardless of the value of $x.

  • $x treat as xs:error raises a dynamic error [err:XPDY0050] if evaluated, regardless of the value of $x. It never fails statically.

  • let $x as xs:error := 1 return 2 raises a type error [err:XPTY0004], which can be raised statically or dynamically, and need not be raised if the variable $x is never evaluated by the query processor.

  • declare function ns:f($arg as xs:error) {...}; is a valid function declaration, but it always raises a type error [err:XPTY0004] if the function is called.

All of the above examples assume that $x is actually evaluated. The rules specified in 2.4.4 Errors and Optimization permit an implementation to avoid evaluating $x if the result of the query does not depend upon the value of $x and thus to avoid raising an error.

3.7 Subtype Relationships

[Definition: 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.]

Note:

The relationship subtype(A, A) is always true: every type is a subtype of itself.

Note:

The converse is not necessarily true: we cannot infer that if every value matched by A is also matched by B, then A is a subtype of type B. For example, A might be defined as the set of strings matching the regular expression [A-Z]*, while B is the set of strings matching the regular expression [A-Za-z]*; no subtype relationship holds between these types.

The rules for deciding whether one sequence type is a subtype of another are given in 3.7.1 Subtypes of Sequence Types. The rules for deciding whether one item type is a subtype of another are given in 3.7.2 Subtypes of Item Types.

Note:

The subtype relationship is not acyclic. There are cases where subtype(A, B) and subtype(B, A) are both true. This implies that A and B have the same value space, but they can still be different types. For example this applies when A is a union type with member types xs:string and xs:integer, while B is a union type with member types xs:integer and xs:string. These are different types ("23" cast as A produces a string, while "23" cast as B produces an integer, because casting is attempted to each member type in order) but both types have the same value space.

3.7.1 Subtypes of Sequence Types

We use the notation A ⊑ B, or subtype(A, B) to indicate that a sequence type A is a subtype of a sequence type B. This section defines the rules for deciding whether any two sequence types have this relationship.

To define the rules, we divide sequence types into six categories:

  • The category empty includes the sequence types empty-sequence(), xs:error* and xs:error?. All these sequence types match the empty sequence as their only instance.

  • The category void includes the sequence types xs:error and xs:error+, which have no instances (not even the empty sequence).

  • The categories X?, X*, X and X+ includes all sequence types having an item type X other than xs:error, together with an occurrence indicator of ? (zero or more), * (one or more), absent (exactly one), or + (one or more) respectively. We use the notation Xi to indicate the item type of such a sequence type.

The judgement A ⊑ B is then determined by the categories of the two sequence types, as defined in the table below. In many cases this depends on the relationship between the item types of A and B. This is denoted using the notation AiBi , as defined in 3.7.2 Subtypes of Item Types.

Sequence type B
empty Bi? Bi* Bi Bi+ void
Sequence type A empty true true true false false false
Ai? false AiBi AiBi false false false
Ai* false false AiBi false false false
Ai false AiBi AiBi AiBi AiBi false
Ai+ false false AiBi false AiBi false
void true true true true true true

3.7.2 Subtypes of Item Types

We use the notation A ⊆ B, or itemtype-subtype(A, B) to indicate that an item type A is a subtype of an item type B. This section defines the rules for deciding whether any two item types have this relationship.

Before applying these rules, any ItemType written as item-type(N) is replaced with the definition of the named item type N, recursively. The rules are written in terms of the lexical form of the two item types, but it is assumed that trivial variations are first eliminated: comments and unnecessary whitespace are removed, lexical QNames are replaced by URI-qualified names with appropriate defaults applied in the case of unprefixed names, equivalent forms such as element() and element(*) are normalized.

The relationship A ⊆ B is true if and only if at least one of the conditions listed in the following subsections applies:

3.7.2.1 General Rules

Given item types A and B, AB is true if any of the following apply:

  1. A is xs:error.

  2. B is item().

  3. A and B are the same item type.

  4. There is an item type X such that AX and XB . (This is referred to below as the transitivity rule).

Note:

The first rule is technically redundant: it is implied by the second rule in 3.7.2.2 Atomic and Union Types. The type xs:error is defined as a union type with no member types; therefore it is automatically true that every member type T satisfies TB .

3.7.2.2 Atomic and Union Types

Given item types A and B, AB is true if any of the following apply:

  1. A and B are generalized atomic types, and derives-from(A, B) returns true.

    The derives-from relationship is defined in 3.5 Sequence Type Matching.

    Examples:
    • xs:integer ⊆ xs:decimal because xs:integer is derived by restriction from xs:decimal.

    • xs:decimal ⊆ xs:numeric because xs:numeric is a pure union type that includes xs:decimal as a member type.

    • enum("red") ⊆ xs:string because the singleton enumeration type enum("red") is defined to be an atomic type derived from xs:string.

    • enum("red") ⊆ enum("red", "green") because the enumeration type enum("red", "green") is defined to be a union type that has the atomic type enum("red") as a member type.

  2. A is a pure union type, and every type T in the transitive membership of A satisfies TB .

    Examples:
    • union(xs:short, xs:long) ⊆ xs:integer because xs:short ⊆ xs:integer and xs:long ⊆ xs:integer.

    • union(P, Q) ⊆ union(P, Q, R) because P ⊆ union(P, Q, R) and Q ⊆ union(P, Q, R).

    • enum("red", "green") ⊆ xs:string because the enumeration type enum("red") ⊆ xs:string and enum("green") ⊆ xs:string.

    • enum("red", "green") ⊆ enum("red", "green", "blue") because enum("red") ⊆ enum("red", "green", "blue") and enum("green") ⊆ enum("red", "green", "blue").

    • enum("red", "green", "blue") ⊆ union(enum("red", "green"), enum("blue")) because each of the types enum("red"), enum("green"), and enum("blue") is a subtype of one of the two members of the union type.

    Note:

    This rule applies both when A is a schema-defined union type and when it is a LocalUnionType; in addition it applies when A is an enumeration type with multiple enumerated values, which is defined to be equivalent to a union type.

3.7.2.3 Node Types: General Rules

Given item types A and B, AB is true if any of the following apply:

  1. A is a KindTest and B is node().

    Example:

    comment() ⊆ node()

  2. A is processing-instruction(N) for any name N, and B is processing-instruction().

    Example:

    processing-instruction('pi') ⊆ processing-instruction()

  3. A is document-node(E) for any ElementTest E, and B is document-node().

    Example:

    document-node(element(chap)) ⊆ document-node()

  4. All the following are true:

    1. A is document-node(Ae)

    2. B is document-node(Be)

    3. AeBe

    Example:

    document-node(element(title)) ⊆ document-node(element(*)).

3.7.2.4 Node Types: Element Tests

[Definition: In these rules, if MU and NU are NameTestUnions, then MU wildcard-matches NU is true if every name that matches MU also matches NU.]

More specifically, this is the case if for every NameTest M in MU there is a NameTest N in NU where at least one of the following applies:

  1. M and N are the same NameTest.

  2. M is an EQName and N is a Wildcard that matches M.

  3. N is the Wildcard *.

Given item types A and B, AB is true if any of the following apply.

  1. A is an ElementTest and B is either element() or element(*)

  2. All the following are true:

    1. A is either element(An) or element(An, T) or element(An, T?) for any type T

    2. B is either element(Bn) or element(Bn, xs:anyType?)

    3. An wildcard-matches Bn

    Examples:
    • element(title) ⊆ element(*)

    • element(title, xs:string) ⊆ element(*)

    • element(title|heading, xs:string) ⊆ element(*)

    • element(title, xs:string) ⊆ element(title|heading)

    • element(title, xs:string?) ⊆ element(*)

    • element(title|heading, xs:string) ⊆ element(*)

    • element(title) ⊆ element(title, xs:anyType?)

    • element(title, xs:integer) ⊆ element(title|heading, xs:anyType?)

    • element(title, xs:string?) ⊆ element(title, xs:anyType?)

    • element(my:title|your:title) ⊆ element(*:title)

    • element(my:title|my:heading) ⊆ element(my:*)

  3. All the following are true:

    1. A is element(An, At)

    2. B is element(Bn, Bt)

    3. An wildcard-matches Bn

    4. derives-from(At, Bt).

    Examples:
    • element(size, xs:integer) ⊆ element(size, xs:decimal)

    • element(size, xs:integer) ⊆ element(size|größe, xs:decimal)

    • element(size, xs:integer) ⊆ element(*, xs:decimal)

    • element(*, xs:integer) ⊆ element(*, xs:decimal)

    • element(my:*, xs:integer) ⊆ element(*, xs:decimal)

  4. All the following are true:

    1. A is either element(An, At) or element(An, At?)

    2. B is element(Bn, Bt?)

    3. An wildcard-matches Bn

    4. derives-from(At, Bt).

    Examples:
    • element(size, xs:integer) ⊆ element(size, xs:decimal?)

    • element(size, xs:integer?) ⊆ element(*, xs:decimal?)

    • element(*, xs:integer) ⊆ element(*, xs:decimal?)

    • element(my:*, xs:integer?) ⊆ element(*, xs:decimal?)

  5. All the following are true:

    1. A is schema-element(An)

    2. B is schema-element(Bn)

    3. Every element declaration that is an actual member of the substitution group of An is also an actual member of the substitution group of Bn.

    Note:

    The fact that P is a member of the substitution group of Q does not mean that every element declaration in the substitution group of P is also in the substitution group of Q. For example, Q might block substitution of elements whose type is derived by extension, while P does not.

3.7.2.5 Node Types: Attribute Tests

Given item types A and B, AB is true if any of the following apply:

  1. A is an AttributeTest and B is either attribute() or attribute(*)

  2. All the following are true:

    1. A is either attribute(An) or attribute(An, T) for any type T.

    2. B is either attribute(Bn) or attribute(Bn, xs:anyAtomicType)

    3. An wildcard-matches Bn

    Examples:
    • attribute(code) ⊆ attribute(*)

    • attribute(code|status) ⊆ attribute(*)

    • attribute(code, xs:untypedAtomic) ⊆ attribute(*)

    • attribute(code|status, xs:string) ⊆ attribute(code, xs:anyAtomicType)

    • attribute(my:code|your:code) ⊆ attribute(*:code)

    • attribute(my:code|my:status) ⊆ attribute(my:*)

  3. All the following are true:

    1. A is attribute(An, At)

    2. B is attribute(Bn, Bt)

    3. An wildcard-matches Bn

    4. derives-from(At, Bt).

    Examples:
    • attribute(*, xs:ID) ⊆ attribute(*, xs:string)

    • attribute(my:*, xs:ID) ⊆ attribute(*, xs:string)

    • attribute(code, xs:ID) ⊆ attribute(code|status, xs:string)

    • attribute(code, xs:ID) ⊆ attribute(*, xs:string)

    • attribute(code, xs:ID) ⊆ attribute(*:code, xs:ID)

    • attribute(my:code|my:status, xs:ID) ⊆ attribute(my:*, xs:string)

  4. All the following are true:

    1. A is schema-attribute(An)

    2. B is schema-attribute(Bn)

    3. the expanded QName of An equals the expanded QName of Bn

3.7.2.6 Functions

Given item types A and B, AB is true if any of the following apply:

  1. All the following are true:

    1. A is a FunctionTest with annotations [AnnotationsA]

    2. B is [AnnotationsB] function(*)

    3. subtype-assertions(AnnotationsA, AnnotationsB), where [AnnotationsB] and [AnnotationsA] are optional lists of one or more annotations.

    Example:

    function(xs:integer) as xs:string ⊆ function(*)

  2. All the following are true:

    1. A is AnnotationsA function(a1, a2, ... aM) as RA

    2. B is AnnotationsB function(b1, b2, ... bN) as RB

    3. [AnnotationsB] and [AnnotationsA] are optional lists of one or more annotations;

    4. N (the arity of B) equals M (the arity of A)

    5. RARB

    6. For all values of p between 1 and N, bpap , and subtype-assertions(AnnotationsA, AnnotationsB)

    Examples:
    • function(xs:integer) as xs:string ⊆ function(xs:long) as xs:string

    • function(xs:integer) as xs:ID ⊆ function(xs:integer) as xs:string

    • function(xs:integer) as xs:ID ⊆ function(xs:long) as xs:string

    Note:

    Function return types are covariant because this rule requires RARB for return types. Function parameter types are contravariant because this rule requires bpap for parameter types.

3.7.2.7 Maps

Given item types A and B, AB is true if any of the following apply:

  1. Both of the following are true:

    1. A is map(K, V), for any K and V

    2. B is map(*)

    Example:

    map(xs:integer, item()*) ⊆ map(*)

  2. All the following are true:

    1. A is map(Ka, Va)

    2. B is map(Kb, Vb)

    3. KaKb

    4. VaVb

    Example:

    map(xs:long, item()) ⊆ map(xs:integer, item()+)

  3. Both the following are true:

    1. A is map(*) (or, because of the transitivity rules, any other map type)

    2. B is function(*)

    Example:

    map(xs:long, xs:string?) ⊆ function(*)

  4. Both the following are true:

    1. A is map(*) (or, because of the transitivity rules, any other map type)

    2. B is function(xs:anyAtomicType) as item()*

    Example:

    map(xs:long, xs:string?) ⊆ function(xs:anyAtomicType) as item()*

  5. Both the following are true:

    1. A is map(K, V)

    2. B is function(xs:anyAtomicType) as W , where W has the same item type as V, but also allows an empty sequence.

    Examples:
    • map(xs:int, node()) ⊆ function(xs:anyAtomicType) as node()?

    • map(xs:int, node()+) ⊆ function(xs:anyAtomicType) as node()*

    The function accepts type xs:anyAtomicType rather than xs:int, because $M("xyz") is a valid call on a map (treated as a function) even when all the keys in the map are integers.

    The return type of the function is extended from node() or node()+ to allow an empty sequence because $M("xyz") can return an empty sequence even if none of the entries in the map contains an empty sequence.

3.7.2.8 Arrays

Given item types A and B, AB is true if any of the following apply:

  1. Both the following are true:

    1. A is array(X)

    2. B is array(*)

    Example:

    array(xs:integer) ⊆ array(*)

  2. All the following are true:

    1. A is array(X)

    2. B is array(Y)

    3. XY

    Example:

    array(xs:integer) ⊆ array(xs:decimal+)

  3. Both the following are true:

    1. A is array(*) (or, because of the transitivity rules, any other array type)

    2. B is function(*)

    Example:

    array(xs:integer) ⊆ function(*)

  4. Both the following are true:

    1. A is array(*) (or, because of the transitivity rules, any other array type)

    2. B is function(xs:integer) as item()*

    Example:

    array(*) ⊆ function(xs:integer) as item()*

  5. Both the following are true:

    1. A is array(X)

    2. B is function(xs:integer) as X

    Example:

    array(xs:string) ⊆ function(xs:integer) as xs:string

3.7.2.9 Record Tests

Given item types A and B, A B is true if any of the following apply:

  1. A is map(*) and B is record(*).

  2. All of the following are true:

    1. A is a record test.

    2. B is map(*) or record(*).

    Examples:

    record(longitude, latitude)map(*)

    record(longitude, latitude, *)record(*)

    record(*)map(*)

  3. All of the following are true:

    1. A is a non-extensible record test

    2. B is map(K, V)

    3. K is either xs:string or xs:anyAtomicType

    4. For every field F in A, where T is the declared type of F (or its default, item()*), TV .

    Examples:
    • record(x, y)map(xs:string, item()*)

    • record(x as xs:double, y as xs:double)map(xs:string, xs:double)

  4. All of the following are true:

    1. A is a non-extensible record test.

    2. B is a non-extensible record test.

    3. Every field in A is also declared in B.

    4. Every mandatory field in B is also declared in A.

    5. For every field that is declared in both A and B, where the declared type in A is T and the declared type in B is U, TU .

    Examples:
    • record(x, y as xs:integer) ⊆ record(x, y as xs:decimal)

    • record(x, y) ⊆ record(x, y, z?)

  5. All of the following are true:

    1. A is an extensible record test

    2. B is an extensible record test

    3. Every mandatory field in B is also declared in A.

    4. For every field that is declared in both A and B, where the declared type in A is T and the declared type in B is U, TU .

    5. For every field that is declared in B but not in A, the declared type in B is item()*.

    Examples:
    • record(x, y, z, *) ⊆ record(x, y, *)

    • record(x?, y?, z?, *) ⊆ record(x, y, *)

    • record(x as xs:integer, y as xs:integer, *) ⊆ record(x as xs:decimal, y as xs:integer*, *)

    • record(x as xs:integer, *) ⊆ record(x as xs:decimal, y as item(), *)

  6. All of the following are true:

    1. A is a non-extensible record test.

    2. B is an extensible record test.

    3. Every mandatory field in B is also declared in A.

    4. Every field that is declared in B with a type other than item()* is also declared in A.

    5. For every field that is declared in both A and B, where the declared type in A is T and the declared type in B is U, TU .

    Examples:
    • record(x, y as xs:integer) ⊆ record(x, y as xs:decimal, *)

    • record(y as xs:integer) ⊆ record(x?, y as xs:decimal, *)

3.7.3 The judgement subtype-assertions(AnnotationsA, AnnotationsB)

The judgement subtype-assertions(AnnotationsA, AnnotationsB) determines if AnnotationsA is a subtype of AnnotationsB, where AnnotationsA and AnnotationsB are annotation lists from two FunctionTests. It is defined to ignore function assertions in namespaces not understood by the XQuery implementation. For assertions that are understood, their effect on the result of subtype-assertions() is implementation defined.

The following examples are some possible ways to define subtype-assertions() for some implementation defined assertions in the local namespace. These examples assume that some implementation uses annotations to label functions as deterministic or nondeterministic, and treats deterministic functions as a subset of nondeterministic functions. In this implementation, nondeterministic functions are not a subset of deterministic functions.

  • AnnotationsA is

    %local:inline

    It has no influence on the outcome of subtype-assertions().

  • AnnotationsA is

    %local:deterministic

    AnnotationsB is

    %local:nondeterministic

    Since deterministic functions are a subset of nondeterministic functions, subtype-assertions() is true.

  • AnnotationsA contains

    %local:nondeterministic

    AnnotationsB is empty. If FunctionTests without the %local:nondeterministic annotation only match deterministic functions, subtype-assertions() must be false.

4 Expressions

This section discusses each of the basic kinds of expression. Each kind of expression has a name such as PathExpr, which is introduced on the left side of the grammar production that defines the expression. Since XQuery 4.0 is a composable language, each kind of expression is defined in terms of other expressions whose operators have a higher precedence. In this way, the precedence of operators is represented explicitly in the grammar.

The order in which expressions are discussed in this document does not reflect the order of operator precedence. In general, this document introduces the simplest kinds of expressions first, followed by more complex expressions. For the complete grammar, see Appendix [A XQuery 4.0 Grammar].

[Definition: A query consists of one or more modules.] If a query is executable, one of its modules has a Query Body containing an expression whose value is the result of the query. An expression is represented in the XQuery grammar by the symbol Expr.

[45]    Expr    ::=    ExprSingle ("," ExprSingle)*
[46]    ExprSingle    ::=    WithExpr
| FLWORExpr
| QuantifiedExpr
| SwitchExpr
| TypeswitchExpr
| IfExpr
| TryCatchExpr
| OrExpr

The XQuery 4.0 operator that has lowest precedence is the comma operator, which is used to combine two operands to form a sequence. As shown in the grammar, a general expression (Expr) can consist of multiple ExprSingle operands, separated by commas. The name ExprSingle denotes an expression that does not contain a top-level comma operator (despite its name, an ExprSingle may evaluate to a sequence containing more than one item.)

The symbol ExprSingle is used in various places in the grammar where an expression is not allowed to contain a top-level comma. For example, each of the arguments of a function call must be an ExprSingle, because commas are used to separate the arguments of a function call.

After the comma, the expressions that have next lowest precedence are FLWORExpr, QuantifiedExpr, SwitchExpr, TypeswitchExpr, IfExpr, TryCatchExpr, and OrExpr. Each of these expressions is described in a separate section of this document.

4.1 Setting Namespace Context

[47]    WithExpr    ::=    "with" NamespaceDeclaration ("," NamespaceDeclaration)* EnclosedExpr
[48]    NamespaceDeclaration    ::=    QName "=" URILiteral
[263]    URILiteral    ::=    StringLiteral
[41]    EnclosedExpr    ::=    "{" Expr? "}"

The namespace context for an expression can be set using a construct of the form:

with xmlns="http://example.com/,
     xmlns:a="http://example.com/a" {
       /doc/a:element/b
}

The static context for the enclosed expression will be the same as the static context for the WithExpr itself, except for modifications defined below.

The QName used in a NamespaceDeclaration must be either xmlns or xmlns:prefix where prefix is some NCName.

If more than one NamespaceDeclaration specifies the same QName, all but the last of the duplicates are ignored.

If the QName is "xmlns" then:

If the QName is in the form xmlns:prefix then the URILiteral must not be zero-length; the effect is that a binding that maps the given prefix to the specified namespace URI is added to the statically known namespaces.

For example, the expression:

with xmlns="http://www.acme.com/" {a/b[c=3]}

is equivalent to the expression:

Q{http://www.acme.com/}a/Q{http://www.acme.com/}b[Q{http://www.acme.com/}c=3]

4.2 Comments

[279]    Comment    ::=    "(:" (CommentContents | Comment)* ":)" /* ws: explicit */
/* gn: comments */
[292]    CommentContents    ::=    (Char+ - (Char* ('(:' | ':)') Char*))

Comments may be used to provide information relevant to programmers who read a query, either in the Prolog or in the Query Body . Comments are lexical constructs only, and do not affect query processing.

Comments are strings, delimited by the symbols (: and :). Comments may be nested.

A comment may be used anywhere ignorable whitespace is allowed (see A.3.5.1 Default Whitespace Handling).

The following is an example of a comment:

(: Houston, we have a problem :)

4.3 Primary Expressions

[Definition: Primary expressions are the basic primitives of the language. They include literals, variable references, context value expressions, 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.] Node Constructors are described in 4.13 Node Constructors.Map and Array Constructors are described in 4.14 Maps and Arrays. String Constructors are described in 4.10.3 String Constructors.

[163]    PrimaryExpr    ::=    Literal
| VarRef
| ParenthesizedExpr
| ContextValueExpr
| FunctionCall
| OrderedExpr
| UnorderedExpr
| NodeConstructor
| FunctionItemExpr
| MapConstructor
| ArrayConstructor
| StringTemplate
| StringConstructor
| UnaryLookup
[202]    FunctionItemExpr    ::=    NamedFunctionRef | InlineFunctionExpr

4.3.1 Literals

[Definition: A literal is a direct syntactic representation of an atomic value.] XQuery 4.0 supports two kinds of literals: numeric literals and string literals.

[164]    Literal    ::=    NumericLiteral | StringLiteral
[165]    NumericLiteral    ::=    IntegerLiteral | HexIntegerLiteral | BinaryIntegerLiteral | DecimalLiteral | DoubleLiteral
[265]    IntegerLiteral    ::=    Digits /* ws: explicit */
[266]    HexIntegerLiteral    ::=    "0x" HexDigits /* ws: explicit */
[267]    BinaryIntegerLiteral    ::=    "0b" BinaryDigits /* ws: explicit */
[268]    DecimalLiteral    ::=    ("." Digits) | (Digits "." [0-9]*) /* ws: explicit */
[269]    DoubleLiteral    ::=    (("." Digits) | (Digits ("." [0-9]*)?)) [eE] [+-]? Digits /* ws: explicit */
[270]    StringLiteral    ::=    ('"' (PredefinedEntityRef | CharRef | EscapeQuot | [^"&])* '"') | ("'" (PredefinedEntityRef | CharRef | EscapeApos | [^'&])* "'") /* ws: explicit */
[273]    PredefinedEntityRef    ::=    "&" ("lt" | "gt" | "amp" | "quot" | "apos") ";" /* ws: explicit */
[274]    EscapeQuot    ::=    '""' /* ws: explicit */
[275]    EscapeApos    ::=    "''" /* ws: explicit */
[286]    Digits    ::=    DecDigit ((DecDigit | "_")* DecDigit)?
[287]    DecDigit    ::=    [0-9]
[288]    HexDigits    ::=    HexDigit ((HexDigit | "_")* HexDigit)?
[289]    HexDigit    ::=    [0-9a-fA-F]
[290]    BinaryDigits    ::=    BinaryDigit ((BinaryDigit | "_")* BinaryDigit)?
[291]    BinaryDigit    ::=    [01]

The value of a numeric literal is determined as follows (taking the rules in order):

  1. Underscore characters are stripped out. Underscores may be included in a numeric literal to aid readability, but have no effect on the value. For example, 1_000_000 is equivalent to 1000000.

    Note:

    Underscores must not appear at the beginning or end of a sequence of digits, only in intermediate positions. Multiple adjacent underscores are allowed.

  2. A HexIntegerLiteral represents a non-negative integer expressed in hexadecimal: for example 0xffff represents the integer 65535, and 0xFFFF_FFFF represents the integer 4294967295.

  3. A BinaryIntegerLiteral represents a non-negative integer expressed in binary: for example 0b101 represents the integer 5, and 0b1111_1111 represents the integer 255.

  4. The value of a numeric literal containing no . and no e or E character is an atomic value of type xs:integer; the value is obtained by casting from xs:string to xs:integer as specified in Section 19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic FO31.

  5. The value of a numeric literal containing . but no e or E character is an atomic value of type xs:decimal; the value is obtained by casting from xs:string to xs:decimal as specified in Section 19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic FO31.

  6. The value of a numeric literal containing an e or E character is an atomic value of type xs:double; the value is obtained by casting from xs:string to xs:double as specified in Section 19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic FO31.

Note:

The value of a numeric literal is always non-negative. An expression may appear to include a negative number such as -1, but this is technically an arithmetic expression comprising a unary minus operator followed by a numeric literal.

Note:

The effect of the above rules is that in the case of an integer or decimal literal, a dynamic error [err:FOAR0002]FO31 will generally be raised if the literal is outside the range of values supported by the implementation (other options are available: see Section 4.2 Arithmetic operators on numeric values FO31 for details.)

The limits of numeric datatypes are specified in 6.3 Data Model Conformance.

The value of a string literal is an atomic value whose type is xs:string and whose value is the string denoted by the characters between the delimiting apostrophes or quotation marks. If the literal is delimited by apostrophes, two adjacent apostrophes within the literal are interpreted as a single apostrophe. Similarly, if the literal is delimited by quotation marks, two adjacent quotation marks within the literal are interpreted as one quotation mark.

A string literal may contain a predefined entity reference. [Definition: 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.] Each predefined entity reference is replaced by the character it represents when the string literal is processed. The predefined entity references recognized by XQuery are as follows:

Entity Reference Character Represented
&lt; <
&gt; >
&amp; &
&quot; "
&apos; '

A string literal may also contain a character reference. [Definition: A character reference is an XML-style reference to a [Unicode] character, identified by its decimal or hexadecimal codepoint.] For example, the Euro symbol (€) can be represented by the character reference &#8364;. Character references are normatively defined in Section 4.1 of the XML specification (it is implementation-defined whether the rules in [XML 1.0] or [XML 1.1] apply.) A static error [err:XQST0090] is raised if a character reference does not identify a valid character in the version of XML that is in use.

Here are some examples of literal expressions:

  • "12.5" denotes the string containing the characters 1, 2, ., and 5.

  • 12 denotes the xs:integer value twelve.

  • 1_000_000 denotes the xs:integer value one million.

  • 12.5 denotes the xs:decimal value twelve and one half.

  • 125E2 denotes the xs:double value twelve thousand, five hundred.

  • 0xffff denotes the xs:integer value 65535.

  • 0b1000_0001 denotes the xs:integer value 129.

  • "He said, ""I don't like it.""" denotes a string containing two quotation marks and one apostrophe.

  • "Ben &amp; Jerry&apos;s" denotes the xs:string value "Ben & Jerry's".

  • "&#8364;99.50" denotes the xs:string value "€99.50".

The xs:boolean values true and false can be constructed by calls to the system functions fn:true() and fn:false(), respectively.

Values of other simple types can be constructed by calling the constructor function for the given type. The constructor functions for XML Schema built-in types are defined in Section 18.1 Constructor functions for XML Schema built-in atomic types FO31. In general, the name of a constructor function for a given type is the same as the name of the type (including its namespace). For example:

  • xs:integer("12") returns the integer value twelve.

  • xs:date("2001-08-25") returns an item whose type is xs:date and whose value represents the date 25th August 2001.

  • xs:dayTimeDuration("PT5H") returns an item whose type is xs:dayTimeDuration and whose value represents a duration of five hours.

Constructor functions can also be used to create special values that have no literal representation, as in the following examples:

  • xs:float("NaN") returns the special floating-point value, "Not a Number."

  • xs:double("INF") returns the special double-precision value, "positive infinity."

Constructor functions are available for all simple types, including union types. For example, if my:dt is a user-defined union type whose member types are xs:date, xs:time, and xs:dateTime, then the expression my:dt("2011-01-10") creates an atomic value of type xs:date. The rules follow XML Schema validation rules for union types: the effect is to choose the first member type that accepts the given string in its lexical space.

It is also possible to construct values of various types by using a cast expression. For example:

  • 9 cast as hatsize returns the atomic value 9 whose type is hatsize.

4.3.2 Variable References

[166]    VarRef    ::=    "$" VarName
[167]    VarName    ::=    EQName

[Definition: A variable reference is an EQName preceded by a $-sign.] An unprefixed variable reference is in no namespace. Two variable references are equivalent if their expanded QNames are equal (as defined by the eq operator). The scope of a variable binding is defined separately for each kind of expression that can bind variables.

Every variable reference must match a name in the in-scope variables.

Every variable binding has a static scope. The scope defines where references to the variable can validly occur. It is a static error [err:XPST0008] to reference a variable that is not in scope. If a variable is bound in the static context for an expression, that variable is in scope for the entire expression except where it is occluded by another binding that uses the same name within that scope.

A reference to a variable that was declared external, but was not bound to a value by the external environment, raises a dynamic error [err:XPDY0002].

At evaluation time, the value of a variable reference is the value to which the relevant variable is bound.

4.3.3 Parenthesized Expressions

[168]    ParenthesizedExpr    ::=    "(" Expr? ")"

Parentheses may be used to override the precedence rules. For example, the expression (2 + 4) * 5 evaluates to thirty, since the parenthesized expression (2 + 4) is evaluated first and its result is multiplied by five. Without parentheses, the expression 2 + 4 * 5 evaluates to twenty-two, because the multiplication operator has higher precedence than the addition operator.

Empty parentheses are used to denote an empty sequence, as described in 4.8.1 Sequence Concatenation.

4.3.4 Context Value Expression

[169]    ContextValueExpr    ::=    "."

A context value expression evaluates to the context value.

In many syntactic contexts, the context value will be a single item. For example this appplies on the right-hand side of the / or ! operators, or within a Predicate.

If the context value is absentDM31, a context value expression raises a dynamic error [err:XPDY0002].

Note:

Being absent is not the same thing as being empty.

4.3.5 Enclosed Expressions

[41]    EnclosedExpr    ::=    "{" Expr? "}"

[Definition: An enclosed expression is an instance of the EnclosedExpr production, which allows an optional expression within curly braces.] [Definition: In an enclosed expression, the optional expression enclosed in curly braces is called the content expression.] If the content expression is not provided explicitly, the content expression is ().

Note:

Despite the name, an enclosed expression is not actually an expression in its own right; rather it is a construct that is used in the grammar of many other expressions.

4.4 Postfix Expressions

[149]    PostfixExpr    ::=    PrimaryExpr | FilterExpr | DynamicFunctionCall | LookupExpr
[148]    FilterExpr    ::=    PostfixExpr Predicate
[150]    DynamicFunctionCall    ::=    PostfixExpr PositionalArgumentList
[158]    LookupExpr    ::=    PostfixExpr Lookup

A postfix expression takes one of the following forms:

  • [Definition: A filter expression 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.]

    Filter expressions are described in 4.5 Filter Expressions.

    An example of a filter expression is (1 to 100)[. mod 2 = 0] which returns all even numbers in the range 1 to 100.

    The base expression E1 can itself be a postfix expression, so multiple predicates are allowed, in the form E1[E2][E3][E4].

  • An expression (other than a raw EQName) followed by an argument list in parentheses (that is, E1(E2, E3, ...)) is referred to as a dynamic function call. Its effect is to evaluate E1 to obtain a function, and then call that function, with E2, E3, ... as arguments. Dynamic function calls are described in 4.6.2.1 Dynamic Function Calls.

    An example of a dynamic function call is $f("a", 2) where the value of variable $f must be a function item.

  • A lookup-expression takes the form E1?K, where E1 is an expression returning a sequence of maps or arrays, and K is a key specifier, which indicates which entries in a map, or members in an array, should be selected.

    Lookup expressions are described in 4.14.3.2 Postfix Lookup Expressions.

    An example of a lookup expression is $emp?name, where the value of variable $emp is a map, and the string "name" is the key of one of the entries in the map.

Postfix expressions are evaluated from left-to-right. For example, the expression $E1[E2]?(E3)(E4) is evaluated by first evaluating the filter expression $E1[E2] to produce a sequence of maps and arrays (say $S), then evaluating the lookup expression $S?(E3) to produce a function item (say $F), then evaluating the dynamic function call $F(E4) to produce the final result.

Note:

The grammar for postfix expressions is defined here in a way designed to link clearly to the semantics of the different kinds of expression. For parsing purposes, the equivalent production rule:

PostfixExpr := PrimaryExpr (Predicate | PositionalArgumentList | Lookup)*

(as used in XPath 3.1) is probably more convenient.

4.5 Filter Expressions

[148]    FilterExpr    ::=    PostfixExpr Predicate
[157]    Predicate    ::=    "[" Expr "]"

A filter expression consists of a base expression followed by a predicate, which is an expression written in square brackets. The result of the filter expression consists of the items returned by the base expression, filtered by applying the predicate to each item in turn. The ordering of the items returned by a filter expression is the same as their order in the result of the primary expression.

Note:

Where the expression before the square brackets is a ReverseStep or ForwardStep, the expression is technically not a filter expression but an AxisStep. There are minor differences in the semantics: see 4.7.5 Predicates within Steps

Here are some examples of filter expressions:

  • Given a sequence of products in a variable, return only those products whose price is greater than 100.

    $products[price gt 100]
  • List all the integers from 1 to 100 that are divisible by 5. (See 4.8.1 Sequence Concatenation for an explanation of the to operator.)

    (1 to 100)[. mod 5 eq 0]
  • The result of the following expression is the integer 25:

    (21 to 29)[5]
  • The following example returns the fifth through ninth items in the sequence bound to variable $orders.

    $orders[position() = (5 to 9)]
  • The following example illustrates the use of a filter expression as a step in a path expression. It returns the last chapter or appendix within the book bound to variable $book:

    $book/(chapter | appendix)[last()]

For each item in the input sequence, the predicate expression is evaluated using an inner focus, defined as follows: The context value is the item currently being tested against the predicate. The context size is the number of items in the input sequence. The context position is the position of the context value within the input sequence.

For each item in the input sequence, the result of the predicate expression is coerced to an xs:boolean value, called the predicate truth value, as described below. Those items for which the predicate truth value is true are retained, and those for which the predicate truth value is false are discarded.

The predicate truth value is derived by applying the following rules, in order:

  1. If the value of the predicate expression is a singleton atomic value of a numeric type or derived from a numeric type, the predicate truth value is true if the value of the predicate expression is equal (by the eq operator) to the context position, and is false otherwise. [Definition: A predicate whose predicate expression returns a numeric type is called a numeric predicate.]

    Note:

    In a region of a query where ordering mode is unordered, the result of a numeric predicate is implementation-dependent , as explained in 4.16 Ordered and Unordered Expressions.

  2. Otherwise, the predicate truth value is the effective boolean value of the predicate expression.

4.6 Functions

Functions in XQuery 4.0 arise in two ways:

The functions defined by a statically known function definition can be invoked using a static function call. Function items corresponding to these definitions can also be obtained, as dynamic values, by evaluating a named function reference. Function items can also be obtained using the fn:function-lookup function: in this case the function name and arity do not need to be known statically, and the function definition need not be present in the static context, so long as it is in the dynamic context.

Static and dynamic function calls are described in the following sections.

4.6.1 Static Function Calls

The static context for an expression includes a set of statically known function definitions. Every function definition in the static context has a name (which is an expanded QName) and an arity range, which is a range of permitted arities for calls on that function. Two function definitions having the same name must not have overlapping arity ranges. This means that for a given static function call, it is possible to identify the target function definition in the static context unambiguously from knowledge of the function name and the number of supplied arguments.

A static function call is bound to a function definition in the static context by matching the name and arity. If the function call has P positional arguments followed by K keyword arguments, then the required arity is P+K, and the static context must include a function definition whose name matches the expanded QName in the function call, and whose arity range includes this required arity. This is the function chosen to be called. The result of the function is obtained by evaluating the expression that forms its implementation, with a dynamic context that provides values for all the declared parameters, initialized as described in 4.6.1.2 Evaluating Static Function Calls below.

Similarly, a function reference of the form f#N binds to a function definition in the static context whose name matches f where MinP ≤ N and MaxP ≥ N. The result of evaluating a function reference is a function item which can be called using a dynamic function call. Function items are never variadic and their arguments are always supplied positionally. For example, the function reference fn:concat#3 returns a function item with arity 3, which is always called by supplying three positional arguments, and whose effect is the same as a static call on fn:concat with three positional arguments.

The detailed rules for evaluating static function calls and function references are defined in subsequent sections.

4.6.1.1 Static Function Call Syntax
[172]    FunctionCall    ::=    EQName ArgumentList /* xgc: reserved-function-names */
/* gn: parens */
[151]    ArgumentList    ::=    "(" ((PositionalArguments ("," KeywordArguments)?) | KeywordArguments)? ")"
[153]    PositionalArguments    ::=    Argument ("," Argument)*
[173]    Argument    ::=    ExprSingle | ArgumentPlaceholder
[174]    ArgumentPlaceholder    ::=    "?"
[154]    KeywordArguments    ::=    KeywordArgument ("," KeywordArgument)*
[155]    KeywordArgument    ::=    EQName ":=" Argument

[Definition: A static function call consists of an EQName followed by a parenthesized list of zero or more arguments.]

The argument list consists of zero or more positional arguments, followed by zero or more keyword arguments.

[Definition: 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).]

This section is concerned with static function calls in which none of the arguments are ArgumentPlaceholders. Calls using one or more ArgumentPlaceholders are covered in the section 4.6.2.3 Partial Function Application.

If the function name supplied in a static function call is an unprefixed lexical QName, it is expanded using the default function namespace in the static context.

The expanded QName used as the function name and the number of arguments used in the static function call (the required arity) must match the name and arity range of a function definition in the static context using the rules defined in the previous section; if there is no match, a static error is raised [err:XPST0017].

Evaluation of static function calls is described in 4.6.1.2 Evaluating Static Function Calls .

Since the arguments of a function call are separated by commas, any argument expression that contains a top-level comma operator must be enclosed in parentheses. Here are some illustrative examples of static function calls:

  • my:three-argument-function(1, 2, 3) denotes a static function call with three positional arguments. The corresponding function declaration must define at least three parameters, and may define more, provided they are optional.

  • my:two-argument-function((1,2), 3) denotes a static function call with two arguments, the first of which is a sequence of two values. The corresponding function declaration must define at least two parameters, and may define more, provided they are optional.

  • my:two-argument-function(1, ()) denotes a static function call with two arguments, the second of which is an empty sequence.

  • my:one-argument-function((1, 2, 3)) denotes a static function call with one argument that is a sequence of three values.

  • my:one-argument-function(( )) denotes a static function call with one argument that is an empty sequence.

  • my:zero-argument-function( ) denotes a static function call with zero arguments.

  • lang(node := $n, language := 'de') is a static function call with two keyword arguments. The corresponding function declaration defines two parameters, a required parameter language and an optional parameter node. This call supplies values for both parameters. It is equivalent to the call fn:lang('de', $n). Note that the keyword arguments are in a different order from the parameter declarations.

  • sort(//employee, key := fn($e) { xs:decimal($e/salary) }) is a static function call with one positional argument and one keyword argument. The corresponding function declaration defines three parameters, a required parameter $input, an optional parameter $collation, and an optional parameter $key This call supplies values for the first and third parameters, leaving the second parameter ($collation) to take its default value. The default value of the $collation parameter is given as fn:default-collation(), so the value supplied to the function is the default collation from the dynamic context of the caller. It is equivalent to the call fn:sort(//employee, fn:default-collation(), fn($e) { xs:decimal($e/salary) }).

An EQName in a KeywordArgument is expanded to a QName value; if there is no prefix, then the name is in no namespace (otherwise the prefix is resolved in the usual way). The keywords used in a function call (after expansion to QNames) must be distinct [err:XPST0017]; [err:XPST0017].

4.6.1.2 Evaluating Static Function Calls

This section applies to static function calls where none of the arguments is an ArgumentPlaceholder. For function calls involving placeholders, see 4.6.2.3 Partial Function Application.

When a static function call FC is evaluated with respect to a static context SC and a dynamic context DC, the result is obtained as follows:

  1. The function definition FD to be used is found in the statically known function definitions of SC.

    The required arity is the total number of arguments in the function call, including both positional and keyword arguments.

    There can be at most one function definition FD in the statically known function definitions component of SC whose function name matches the expanded QName in FC and whose arity range includes the arity of FC’s ArgumentList.

    If there is no such function definition, a static error [err:XPST0017] is raised.

  2. Each parameter in the function definition FD is matched to an argument expression as follows:

    1. If there are N positional arguments in the function call, the corresponding argument expressions are matched pairwise to the first N parameters in the declaration. For this purpose the required parameters and optional parameters in FD are concatenated into a single list, in order.

    2. Any keyword arguments in FC are then matched to parameters (whether required or optional) in FD by comparing the keyword used in FC with the paramater name declared in FD. Each keyword must match the name of a declared parameter [err:XPST0017], and this must be one that has not already been matched to a positional argument. [err:XPST0017].

    3. If any required parameter has not been matched to any argument in FC by applying the above rules, a static error is reported [err:XPST0017]

    4. If any optional parameter has not been matched to any argument in FC by applying the above rules, then the parameter is matched to the default value expression for that parameter in FD.

  3. Each argument expression established by the above rules is evaluated with respect to DC. The order of argument evaluation is implementation dependent and it is not required that an argument be evaluated if the function body can be evaluated without evaluating that argument.

    Note:

    All argument expressions, including default value expressions, are evaluated in the dynamic context of the function call. It is therefore possible to use a default value expression such as ., or /, or fn:current-dateTime(), whose value depends on the dynamic context of the function call.

    If the expression used for the default value of a parameter has no dependencies on the dynamic context, then an implementation may choose to reuse the same value on repeated function calls rather than re-evaluating it on each function call.

    Note:

    This is relevant, for example, if the expression constructs new nodes.

  4. The result of evaluating the argument expression is converted to the required type (the declared type associated with the corresponding parameter in the function declaration, defaulting to item()*) by applying the coercion rules.

  5. The result of the function call is obtained as follows:

    • FD’s body is invoked in an implementation-dependent way. The processor makes the following information available to that invocation:

      • The converted argument values;

      • If the function is context dependent, the static context SC and dynamic context DC of the function call.

    • The result is converted to the required type (the declared return type in the function declaration, defaulting to item()*) by applying the coercion rules.

      The result of applying the coercion rules is either an instance of FD’s return type or a dynamic error. This result is then the result of evaluating FC.

      Note:

      A host language may define alternative rules for processing the result, especially in the case of external functions implemented using a non-XDM type system.

    • Errors raised by system functions are defined in [XQuery and XPath Functions and Operators 4.0].

    • Errors raised by external functions are implementation-defined (see 2.3.5 Consistency Constraints).

    Example: A System Function

    The following function call uses the function Section 2.5 fn:base-uri FO31. Use of SC and DC and errors raised by this function are all defined in [XQuery and XPath Functions and Operators 4.0].

    base-uri()

4.6.2 Function Items

A function item is an XDM value that can be bound to a variable, or manipulated in various ways by XQuery 4.0 expressions. The most significant such expression is a dynamic function call, which supplies values of arguments and evaluates the function to produce a result.

The syntax of dynamic function calls is defined in 4.6.2.1 Dynamic Function Calls.

A number of constructs can be used to produce a function item, notably:

  • A named function reference (see 4.6.2.4 Named Function References) constructs a function item by reference to function definitions in the static context. For example, fn:node-name#1 returns a function item whose effect is to call the static fn:node-name function with one argument.

  • An inline function (see 4.6.2.5 Inline Function Expressions ) constructs a function item whose body is defined locally. For example, the construct fn($x) { $x + 1 } returns a function item whose effect is to increment the value of the supplied argument.

  • A partial function application (see 4.6.2.3 Partial Function Application) derives one function item from another by supplying the values of some of its arguments. For example, fn:ends-with(?, ".txt") returns a function item with one argument that tests whether the supplied string ends with the substring ".txt".

  • Maps and arrays are also function items. See 4.14.1.1 Map Constructors and 4.14.2.1 Array Constructors.

  • The fn:function-lookup function can be called to discover functions that are present in the dynamic context.

  • The fn:load-xquery-module function can be called to load functions dynamically from an external XQuery library module.

  • Some system functions such as fn:random-number-generator and fn:op return a function item as their result.

These constructs are described in detail in the following sections, or in [XQuery and XPath Functions and Operators 4.0].

4.6.2.1 Dynamic Function Calls
[150]    DynamicFunctionCall    ::=    PostfixExpr PositionalArgumentList
[152]    PositionalArgumentList    ::=    "(" PositionalArguments? ")"
[153]    PositionalArguments    ::=    Argument ("," Argument)*
[173]    Argument    ::=    ExprSingle | ArgumentPlaceholder
[174]    ArgumentPlaceholder    ::=    "?"

[Definition: A dynamic function call consists of a base expression that returns the function and a parenthesized list of zero or more arguments (argument expressions or ArgumentPlaceholders).]

A dynamic function call is evaluated as described in 4.6.2.2 Evaluating Dynamic Function Calls.

The following are examples of some dynamic function calls:

  • This example calls the function contained in $f, passing the arguments 2 and 3:

    $f(2, 3)
  • This example fetches the second item from sequence $f, treats it as a function and calls it, passing an xs:string argument:

    $f[2]("Hi there")
  • This example calls the function $f passing no arguments, and filters the result with a positional predicate:

    $f()[2]

Note:

Arguments in a dynamic function call are always supplied positionally.

4.6.2.2 Evaluating Dynamic Function Calls

This section applies to dynamic function calls whose arguments do not include an ArgumentPlaceholder. For function calls that include a placeholder, see 4.6.2.3 Partial Function Application.

[Definition: A dynamic function call is an expression that is evaluated by calling a function item, which is typically obtained dynamically.]

When a dynamic function call FC is evaluated, the result is obtained as follows:

  1. The function item F to be called is obtained by evaluating the base expression of the function call. If this yields a sequence consisting of a single function item whose arity matches the number of arguments in the ArgumentList, let F denote that function item. Otherwise, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004].

    Note:

    Keyword arguments are not allowed in a dynamic function call.

  2. Argument expressions are evaluated, producing argument values. The order of argument evaluation is implementation-dependent and an argument need not be evaluated if the function body can be evaluated without evaluating that argument.

  3. Each argument value is converted to the corresponding parameter type in F’s signature by applying the coercion rules, resulting in a converted argument value

  4. If F is a map, it is evaluated as described in 4.14.1.2 Map Lookup using Function Call Syntax.

  5. If F is an array, it is evaluated as described in 4.14.2.2 Array Lookup using Function Call Syntax.

  6. If F’s body is an XQuery 4.0 expression (for example, if F is a user-defined function or an anonymous function, or a partial application of such a function):

    1. F’s body is evaluated. The static context for this evaluation is the static context of the XQuery 4.0 expression. The dynamic context for this evaluation is obtained by taking the dynamic context of the module that contains the FunctionBody, and making the following changes:

      • The focus (context value, context position, and context size) is absentDM31.

      • In the variable values component of the dynamic context, each converted argument value is bound to the corresponding parameter name.

        When this is done, the converted argument values retain their dynamic types, even where these are subtypes of the declared parameter types. For example, a function with a parameter $p of type xs:decimal can be called with an argument of type xs:integer, which is derived from xs:decimal. During the processing of this function call, the value of $p inside the body of the function retains its dynamic type of xs:integer.

      • F’s nonlocal variable bindings are also added to the variable values. (Note that the names of the nonlocal variables are by definition disjoint from the parameter names, so there can be no conflict.)

    2. The value returned by evaluating the function body is then converted to the declared return type of F by applying the coercion rules. The result is then the result of evaluating FC.

      As with argument values, the value returned by a function retains its dynamic type, which may be a subtype of the declared return type of F. For example, a function that has a declared return type of xs:decimal may in fact return a value of dynamic type xs:integer.

    Example: Derived Types and Nonlocal Variable Bindings

    $incr is a nonlocal variable that is available within the function because its variable binding has been added to the variable values of the function.. Even though the parameter and return type of this function are both xs:decimal, the more specific type xs:integer is preserved in both cases.

    let $incr := 1
    let $f := function($i as xs:decimal) as xs:decimal { $i + $incr }
    return $f(5)

     

    Example: Using the Context Value in an Anonymous Function

    The following example will raise a dynamic error [err:XPDY0002]:

    let $vat := function() { @vat + @price }
    return shop/article/$vat()

    Instead, the context value can be used as an argument to the anonymous function:

    let $vat := function($art) { $art/@vat + $art/@price }
    return shop/article/$vat(.)

    Alternatively, the value can be referenced as a nonlocal variable binding:

    let $ctx := shop/article,
    $vat := function() { for $a in $ctx return $a/@vat + $a/@price }
    return $vat()

    Finally, a focus function can be used. This binds the value of the argument to the context value within the function body:

    let $vat := function { @vat + @price }
    return $vat(shop/article)
  7. If F’s implementation is not an XQuery 4.0 expression (e.g., F is a system function or an external function, the body of the function is evaluated, and the result is converted to the declared return type, in the same way as for a static function call (see 4.6.1.1 Static Function Call Syntax).

    Errors may be raised in the same way.

4.6.2.3 Partial Function Application

[Definition: A static or dynamic function call is a partial function application if one or more arguments is an ArgumentPlaceholder.]

The rules for partial function application in static function calls and dynamic function calls have a great deal in common, but they are stated separately below for clarity.

In each case, the result of a partial function application is a function item, whose arity is equal to the number of placeholders in the call.

More specifically, the result of the partial function application is a partially applied function. [Definition: A partially applied function is a function created by partial function application.]

For static function calls, the result is obtained as follows:

  1. The function definition F to be partially applied is determined in the same way as for a static function call without placeholders, as described in 4.6.1.1 Static Function Call Syntax. For this purpose an ArgumentPlaceholder contributes to the count of arguments.

  2. The parameters of F are classified into three categories:

    • Parameters that map to a placeholder, referred to as placeholder parameters.

    • Parameters for which an explicit value is given in the function call (either positionally or by keyword), referred to as explicitly supplied parameters.

    • Parameters (which are necessarily optional parameters) for which no corresponding argument is supplied, either as a placeholder or with an explicit value. These are referred to as defaulted parameters.

    Note:

    A partial function application need not have any explicitly supplied parameters. For example, the partial function application fn:string(?) is allowed; it has exactly the same effect as the named function reference fn:string#1.

  3. Explicitly supplied parameters and defaulted parameters are evaluated and converted to the required type using the rules for a static function call.

  4. The result is a partially applied function having the following properties (which are defined in Section 2.8.1 Functions DM31):

    • name: Absent.

    • identity: A new function identity distinct from the identity of any other function item.

      Note:

      See also 4.6.2.7 Function Identity.

    • arity: The number of placeholders in the function call.

    • parameter names: The names of the parameters of F that have been identified as placeholder parameters, retaining the order in which the placeholders appear in the function call.

      Note:

      A partial function application can be used to change the order of parameters, for example fn:contains(substring:=?, value:=?) returns a function item that is equivalent to fn:contains#2, but with the order of arguments reversed.

    • signature: The parameters in the returned function are the parameters of F that have been identified as placeholder parameters, retaining the order in which the placeholders appear in the function call. The result type of the returned function is the same as the result type of F.

      An implementation which can determine a more specific signature (for example, through use of type analysis) is permitted to do so.

    • body: The body of F.

    • captured context: The static and dynamic context of the function call, augmented, for each explicitly supplied parameter and each defaulted parameter, with a binding of the converted argument value to the corresponding parameter name.

    Example: Partial Application of a System Function

    The following partial function application creates a function item that computes the sum of squares of a sequence.

    let $sum-of-squares := fold-right(?, 0, function($a, $b) { $a*$a + $b })
    return $sum-of-squares(1 to 3)

    $sum-of-squares is an anonymous function. It has one parameter, named $seq, which is taken from the corresponding parameter in fn:fold-right (the other two parameters are fixed). The implementation is the implementation of fn:fold-right, which is a context-independent system function. The nonlocal bindings contain the fixed bindings for the second and third parameters of fn:fold-right.

For dynamic function calls, the result is obtained as follows:

  1. The function item F to be partially applied is determined in the same way as for a dynamic function call without placeholders, as described in 4.6.2.1 Dynamic Function Calls. For this purpose an ArgumentPlaceholder contributes to the count of arguments.

  2. The parameters of F are classified into two categories:

    • Parameters that map to a placeholder, referred to as placeholder parameters.

    • Parameters for which an explicit value is given in the function call, referred to as supplied parameters.

    Note:

    A partial function application need not have any explicitly supplied parameters. For example, if $f is a function with arity 2, then the partial function application $f(?, ?) returns a function that has exactly the same effect as $f.

  3. Arguments corresponding to supplied parameters are evaluated and converted to the required type of the parameter, using the rules for dynamic function calls.

  4. The result of the partial function application is a partially applied function with the following properties (which are defined in Section 2.8.1 Functions DM31):

    • name: Absent.

    • arity: the number of placeholders in the function call.

    • parameter names: The names of parameters in F that have been identified as placeholder parameters, in order.

      Note:

      In a dynamic partial function application, argument keywords are not available, so it is not possible to change the order of parameters.

    • signature: The signature of F, removing the types of supplied parameters. An implementation which can determine a more specific signature (for example, through use of type analysis) is permitted to do so.

    • body: The body of F.

    • captured context: the captured context of F, augmented, for each supplied parameter, with a binding of the converted argument value to the corresponding parameter name.

    Example: Partial Application of an Anonymous Function

    In the following example, $f is an anonymous function, and $paf is a partially applied function created from $f.

    let $f := function($seq, $delim) { fold-left($seq, "", concat(?, $delim, ?)) }
    let $paf := $f(?, ".")
    return $paf(1 to 5)

    $paf is also an anonymous function. It has one parameter, named $delim, which is taken from the corresponding parameter in $f (the other parameter is fixed). The implementation of $paf is the implementation of $f, which is fn:fold-left($seq, "", fn:concat(?, $delim, ?)). This implementation is associated with the SC and DC of the original expression in $f. The nonlocal bindings associate the value "." with the parameter $delim.

Partial function application never returns a map or an array. If $F is a map or an array, then $F(?) is a partial function application that returns a function, but the function it returns is neither a map nor an array.

Example: Partial Application of a Map

The following partial function application converts a map to an equivalent function that is not a map.

let $a := map {"A": 1, "B": 2}(?)
return $a("A")
4.6.2.4 Named Function References
[203]    NamedFunctionRef    ::=    EQName "#" IntegerLiteral /* xgc: reserved-function-names */
[264]    EQName    ::=    QName | URIQualifiedName

[Definition: A named function reference 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 .]

The name and arity of the required function are known statically.

If the EQName is a lexical QName, it is expanded using the default function namespace in the static context.

The expanded QName and arity must correspond to a function definition present in the static context. More specifically, for a named function reference F#N, there must be a function definition in the statically known function definitions whose name matches F, and whose arity range includes N . Call this function definition FD.

If FD is context dependent for the given arity, then the returned function item has a captured context comprising the static and dynamic context of the named function reference.

Note:

In practice, it is necessary to retain only those parts of the static and dynamic context that can affect the outcome. These means it is unnecessary to retain parts of the context that no system function depends on (for example, local variables), or parts that are invariant within an execution scope (for example, the implicit timezone).

Example: A Context-Dependent Named Function Reference

Consider:

let $f := <foo/>/fn:name#0 return <bar>/$f()

The function fn:name(), with no arguments, returns the name of the context node. The function item delivered by evaluating the expression fn:name#0 returns the name of the element that was the context node at the point where the function reference was evaluated (that is, the <foo> element). This expression therefore returns "foo", not "bar".

If the expanded QName and arity in a named function reference do not match the name and arity range of a function definition in the static context, a static error is raised [err:XPST0017].

The value of a NamedFunctionRef is a function item FI obtained from FD as follows:

  • The name of FI is the name of FD.

  • The identity of FI is as follows:

    • If FD is context dependent for the given arity, then a new function identity distinct from the identity of any other function item.

      Note:

      In the general case, a function reference to a context-dependent function will produce different results every time it is evaluated, because the resulting function item has a captured context (see Section 2.9.1 Function ItemsDM40) that includes the dynamic context of the particular evaluation. Optimizers, however, are allowed to detect cases where the captured context happens to be the same, or where any variations are immaterial, and where it is therefore safe to return the same function item each time. This might be the case, for example, where the only context dependency of a function is on the default collation, and the default collation for both evaluations is known to be the same.

    • Otherwise, a function identity that is the same as that produced by the evaluation of any other named function reference with the same function name and arity.

      This rule applies even across different execution scopesFO40: for example if a parameter to a call to fn:transform is set to the result of the expression fn:abs#1, then the function item passed as the parameter value will be identical to that obtained by evaluating the expression fn:abs#1 within the target XSLT stylesheet.

      This rule also applies when the target function definition is nondeterministicFO40. For example all evaluations of the named function reference map:keys#2 return identical function items, even though two evaluations of map:keys with the same arguments may produce different results.

    Note:

    See also 4.6.2.7 Function Identity.

  • The parameter names of FI are the first A parameter names of FD, where A is the required arity.

  • The signature of FI is formed from the required types of the first A parameters of FD, and the function result type of FD.

  • The implementation of FI is the implementation of FD.

  • The captured context of FI comprises the static and dynamic context of the named function reference, augmented with bindings of the names of parameters of FD beyond the A'th parameter, to their respective default values.

    Note:

    In practice it is necessary to retain only the parts of the context that the function actually depends on (if any).

Note:

Consider the system function fn:format-date, which has an arity range of 2 to 5. The named function reference fn:format-date#3 returns a function item whose three parameters correspond to the first three parameters of fn:format-date; the remaining two arguments will take their default values. To obtain an arity-3 function that binds to arguments 1, 2, and 5 of fn:format-date, use the partial function application format-date(?, ?, place:?).

The following are examples of named function references:

  • fn:abs#1 references the fn:abs function which takes a single argument.

  • fn:concat#5 references the fn:concat function which takes 5 arguments.

  • local:myfunc#2 references a function named local:myfunc which takes 2 arguments.

Note:

Function items, as values in the data model, have a fixed arity, and a dynamic function call always supplies the arguments positionally. Although the base function referred to may be variadic, the result of evaluating the function reference is a function that has fixed arity. In effect, the result of evaluating my:func#3 is the same as the result of evaluating the inline function expression function($x, $y, $z){my:func($x, $y, $z)}, except that the returned function has a name (it retains the name my:func).

4.6.2.5 Inline Function Expressions
[204]    InlineFunctionExpr    ::=    Annotation* ("function" | "fn") FunctionSignature? FunctionBody
[27]    Annotation    ::=    "%" EQName ("(" AnnotationValue ("," AnnotationValue)* ")")?
[28]    AnnotationValue    ::=    StringLiteral | ("-"? NumericLiteral) | ("true" "(" ")") | ("false" "(" ")")
[35]    FunctionSignature    ::=    "(" ParamList? ")" TypeDeclaration?
[38]    ParamList    ::=    Param ("," Param)*
[39]    Param    ::=    "$" EQName TypeDeclaration?

[Definition: An inline function expression , when evaluated, creates an anonymous function defined directly in the inline function expression.] An inline function expression specifies the names and SequenceTypes of the parameters to the function, the SequenceType of the result, and the body of the function.

An inline function expression whose FunctionSignature is omitted is known as a focus function. Focus functions are described in 4.6.2.6 Focus Functions.

[Definition: 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.]

The keywords function and fn are synonymous.

The syntax allows the names and types of the function argument to be declared, along with the type of the result:

function($x as xs:integer, $y as xs:integer) as xs:integer {$x + $y}

The types can be omitted, and the keyword can be abbreviated:

fn($x, $y) {$x + $y}

A zero-arity function can be written as, for example, fn(){current-date()}.

If a function parameter is declared using a name but no type, its default type is item()*. If the result type is omitted, its default result type is item()*.

The parameters of an inline function expression are considered to be variables whose scope is the function body. It is a static error [err:XQST0039] for an inline function expression to have more than one parameter with the same name.

An inline function expression may have annotations. XQuery 4.0 does not define annotations that apply to inline function expressions, in particular it is a static error [err:XQST0125] if an inline function expression is annotated as %public or %private. An implementation can define annotations, in its own namespace, to support functionality beyond the scope of this specification.

The static context for the function body is inherited from the location of the inline function expression, with the exception of the static type of the context value which is initially absentDM31.

The variables in scope for the function body include all variables representing the function parameters, as well as all variables that are in scope for the inline function expression.

Note:

Function parameter names can mask variables that would otherwise be in scope for the function body.

The result of an inline function expression is a single function with the following properties (as defined in Section 2.8.1 Functions DM31):

  • name: Absent.

  • identity: A new function identity distinct from the identity of any other function item.

    Note:

    See also 4.6.2.7 Function Identity.

  • parameter names: The parameter names in the InlineFunctionExpr’s ParamList.

  • signature: A FunctionTest constructed from the Annotations and SequenceTypes in the InlineFunctionExpr. An implementation which can determine a more specific signature (for example, through use of type analysis of the function’s body) is permitted to do so.

  • implementation: The InlineFunctionExpr’s FunctionBody.

  • captured context: the static context is the static context of the inline function expression, with the exception of the static context value type which is absentDM31. The dynamic context has an absent focus, and a set of variable bindings comprising the variable values component of the dynamic context of the InlineFunctionExpr.

The following are examples of some inline function expressions:

  • This example creates a function that takes no arguments and returns a sequence of the first 6 primes:

    function() as xs:integer+ { 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13 }
  • This example creates a function that takes two xs:double arguments and returns their product:

    fn($a as xs:double, $b as xs:double) as xs:double { $a * $b }
  • This example creates and invokes a function that captures the value of a local variable in its scope:

    let $incrementors := 
       for $x in 1 to 10
       return function($y) as xs:integer { $x + $y }
    return $incrementors[2](4)

    The result of this expression is 6

4.6.2.6 Focus Functions

[Definition: 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()*.]

Here are some examples of focus functions:

  • fn{@age} - a function that expects a node as its argument, and returns the @age attribute of that node.

  • fn{.+1} - a function that expects a number as its argument, and returns that number plus one.

  • function{`${.}`} - a function that expects a string as its argument, and prepends a "$" character.

  • function{head(.)+foot(.)} - a function that expects a sequence of numbers as its argument, and returns the sum of the first and last items in the sequence.

Focus functions are often useful as arguments to simple higher-order functions such as fn:sort. For example, to sort employees by salary, write sort(//employee, (), fn { +@salary }). (The unary plus has the effect of converting the attribute’s value to a number, for numeric sorting).

Focus functions can also be useful on the right-hand side of the arrow operator and dt-mapping-arrow operator. For example, $s => tokenize() =!> fn { `"{.}"` }() first tokenizes the string $s, then wraps each token in double quotation marks.

The expression function{EXPR} (or fn{EXPR}) is a syntactic shorthand for the expression function($Z as item()*) as item()* {$Z!(EXPR)}, where $Z is a variable name that is otherwise unused. Note that the function body (EXPR) is evaluated with a fixed focus: the context position and context size will always be 1 (one).

Editorial note 2023-09-14
TODO: The above no longer works. We don't currently have any construct (other than this one) that sets the context value to something other than a singleton.
4.6.2.7 Function Identity

It is sometimes useful to be able to establish whether two variables refer to the same function or to different functions. For this purpose, every function item has an identity. Functions with the same identity are indistinguishable in every way; in particular, any function call with identical arguments will produce an identical result.

In general, evaluation of an expression that returns a function item other than one that was present in its operands delivers a function item whose identity is unique, and thus distinct from any other function item. There are two exceptions to this rule:

  • Evaluating a function reference such as count#1 returns the same function every time. Specifically, if the function name identifies a function definition that is not context dependent (which is the most usual case), then all function references using this function name and arity return the same function. For more details see 4.6.2.4 Named Function References.

  • An optimizer is permitted to rewrite expressions in such a way that repeated evaluation is avoided if it can be established that the result will be the same each time, and this may be done without consideration of function identity. For example, if the expression contains(?, "e") appears within the body of a for expression, or if the same expression is written repeatedly in a query, then an optimizer may decide to evaluate it once only, and thus return the same function item each time.

    Similarly, optimizers are allowed to replace any expression with an equivalent expression; for example, count(?) may be rewritten as count#1.

4.6.3 Coercion Rules

[Definition: 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. ] The required type is expressed as a sequence type. The effect of the coercion rules may be to accept the value as supplied, to convert it to a value that matches the required type, or to reject it with a type error.

This section defines how the coercion rules operate; the situations in which the rules apply are defined elsewhere, by reference to this section.

Note:

In previous versions of this specification, the coercion rules were referred to as the function conversion rules. The terminology has changed because the rules are not exclusively associated with functions or function calling.

The coercion rules are applied to a supplied value V and a required sequence type T as follows:

  • If T is a SequenceType whose ItemType is a generalized atomic type (possibly with an occurrence indicator *, +, or ?), then the following conversions are applied, in order:

    Note:

    Enumeration types are generalized atomic types, so these rules apply.

    1. Atomization is applied to the given value, resulting in a sequence of atomic values.

    2. Each item in the atomic sequence that is of type xs:untypedAtomic is cast to the expected generalized atomic type. If the expected atomic type is an EnumerationType, the value is cast to xs:string . If the item is of type xs:untypedAtomic and the expected type is namespace-sensitive, a type error [err:XPTY0117] is raised.

    3. For each numeric item in the atomic sequence that can be promoted to the expected atomic type using numeric promotion as described in B.1 Type Promotion, the promotion is done.

      Note:

      Numeric promotion is performed only when the required type is xs:double or xs:float (perhaps with an occurrence indicator). It is not performed when the required type is derived from xs:double or xs:float.

    4. For each item of type xs:anyURI in the atomic sequence that can be promoted to the expected atomic type using URI promotion as described in B.1 Type Promotion, the promotion is done.

      Note:

      Promotion of xs:anyURI values is performed only when the required type is xs:string (perhaps with an occurrence indicator). It is not performed when the required type is derived from xs:string.

    5. If T is a sequence type whose item type is an atomic type D, where D is derived from some primitive type P, then any atomic value A in the atomic sequence is relabeled as an instance of D if it satisfies all the following conditions:

      1. A is an instance of P.

      2. A is not an instance of D.

      3. The datumDM40 of A is within the value space of D.

      Relabeling an atomic value changes the type annotation but not the datumDM40. For example, the xs:integer value 3 can be relabeled as an instance of xs:unsignedByte, because the datum is within the value space of xs:unsignedByte.

      Note:

      Relabeling is not the same as casting. For example, the xs:decimal value 10.1 can be cast to xs:integer, but it cannot be relabeled as xs:integer, because its datum not within the value space of xs:integer.

      Note:

      The effect of this rule is that if, for example, a function parameter is declared with an expected type of xs:positiveInteger, then a call that supplies the literal value 3 will succeed, whereas a call that supplies -3 will fail.

      Note:

      This differs from previous versions of this specification, where both these calls would fail.

      This change allows the arguments of existing functions to be defined with a more precise type. For example, the $position argument of array:get can be defined as xs:positiveInteger rather than xs:integer. To enable this to be done without breaking backwards compatibility in respect of error behavior, system functions in many cases define custom error codes to be raised where relabeling of argument values fails.

      Note:

      Numeric promotion and xs:anyURI promotion occur only when T is a primitive type (xs:double, xs:float, or xs:string). Relabeling occurs only when T is a derived type. Promotion and relabeling are therefore never combined.

    6. If T is a sequence type whose item type is a pure union type U, then any atomic value A in the atomic sequence is relabeled as an instance of some member type M in the transitive membership of U if M satisfies all the conditions for relabeling defined in the previous rule, and if it is the first member type in the transitive membership of U to satisfy those conditions. For example, if T is the type union(xs:negativeInteger, xs:positiveInteger)* and the supplied value is the sequence (20, -20), then the first item 20 is relabeled as type xs:positiveInteger and the second item -20is relabeled as type xs:negativeInteger.

      Note:

      This rule also ensures that if the required type is enum("red", "green", "blue") and the supplied value is "green", then the supplied value will be accepted, and will be relabeled as an instance of the derived atomic type enum("green").

  • If T is a RecordTest (possibly with an occurrence indicator *, +, or ?), then V must be a map or sequence of maps, and the values of any entries in these maps whose keys correspond to field declarations in the RecordTest are converted to the required type defined by that field declaration, by applying these rules recursively (but with XPath 1.0 compatibility mode treated as false).

    For example, if the required type is record(longitude as xs:double, latitude as xs:double) and the supplied value is map{"longitude": 0, "latitude":53.2}, then the map is converted to map{"longitude": 0.0e0, "latitude": 53.2e0}.

  • If the expected type is a TypedFunctionTest (possibly with an occurrence indicator *, +, or ?), function coercion is applied to each function in the given value.

    Note:

    Maps and arrays are functions, so function coercion applies to them as well.

  • If, after the above conversions, the resulting value does not match the expected type T according to the rules for SequenceType Matching, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004].

    Note:

    Under the general rules for type errors (see 2.4.1 Kinds of Errors), a processor may report a type error during static analysis if it will necessarily occur when the expression is evaluated. For example, the function call fn:abs("beer") will necessarily fail when evaluated, because the function requires a numeric value as its argument; this may be detected and reported as a static error.

  • An expression is deemed to be implausible [err:XPTY0006] if the static type of the expression, after applying all necessary coercions, is substantively disjoint with the required type T. Two sequence types are considered to be substantively disjoint if (a) neither is a subtype of the other (see 3.7.1 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 map, map{}.

    • The empty array, [].

    Note:

    Examples of pairs of sequence types that are substantively disjoint include:

    • xs:integer* and xs:string*

    • map(xs:integer, node()) and map(xs:string, node())

    • array(xs:integer) and array(xs:string)

    For example, supplying a value whose static type is xs:integer* when the required type is xs:string* is implausible, because it can succeed only in the special case where the actual value supplied is an empty sequence.

    Note:

    The case where the supplied type and the required type are completely disjoint (for example map(*) and array(*)) is covered by the general rules for type errors: this case can always be reported as a static error.

4.6.4 Function Coercion

Function coercion is a transformation applied to function items during application of the coercion rules. [Definition: 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.]

Given a function F, and an expected function type, function coercion proceeds as follows:

  1. If F has higher arity than the expected type, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004]

  2. If F has lower arity than the expected type, then F is wrapped in a new function that declares and ignores the additional argument; the following steps are then applied to this new function.

    For example, if the expected type is function(node(), xs:boolean) as xs:string, and the supplied function is fn:name#1, then the supplied function is effectively replaced by function($n as node(), $b as xs:boolean) as xs:string {fn:name($n)}

    Note:

    This mechanism makes it easier to design versatile and extensible higher-order functions. For example, in previous versions of this specification, the second argument of the fn:filter function expected an argument of type function(item()) as xs:boolean. This has now been extended to function(item(), xs:integer) as xs:boolean, but existing code continues to work, because callback functions that are not interested in the value of the second argument simply ignore it.

    TODO: this change to fn:filter has not yet been made.

  3. Function coercion then returns a new function item with the following properties (as defined in Section 2.8.1 Functions DM31):

    • name: The name of F (if not absent).

    • identity: A new function identity distinct from the identity of any other function item.

      Note:

      See also 4.6.2.7 Function Identity.

    • parameter names: The parameter names of F.

    • signature: Annotations is set to the annotations of F. TypedFunctionTest is set to the expected type.

    • implementation: In effect, a FunctionBody that calls F, passing it the parameters of this new function, in order.

    • nonlocal variable bindings: An empty mapping.

If the result of invoking the new function would necessarily result in a type error, that error may be raised during function coercion. It is implementation dependent whether this happens or not.

These rules have the following consequences:

  • SequenceType matching of the function’s arguments and result are delayed until that function is called.

  • The coercion rules rules applied to the function’s arguments and result are defined by the SequenceType it has most recently been coerced to. Additional coercion rules could apply when the wrapped function is called.

  • If an implementation has static type information about a function, that can be used to type check the function’s argument and return types during static analysis.

For instance, consider the following query:

declare function local:filter($s as item()*, $p as function(xs:string) as xs:boolean) as item()*
{
  $s[$p(.)]
};

let $f := function($a) { starts-with($a, "E") }
return
  local:filter(("Ethel", "Enid", "Gertrude"), $f)

The function $f has a static type of function(item()*) as item()*. When the local:filter() function is called, the following occurs to the function:

  1. The coercion rules result in applying function coercion to $f, wrapping $f in a new function ($p) with the signature function(xs:string) as xs:boolean.

  2. $p is matched against the SequenceType of function(xs:string) as xs:boolean, and succeeds.

  3. When $p is called inside the predicate, coercion and SequenceType matching rules are applied to the context value argument, resulting in an xs:string value or a type error.

  4. $f is called with the xs:string, which returns an xs:boolean.

  5. $p applies coercion rules to the result sequence from $f, which already matches its declared return type of xs:boolean.

  6. The xs:boolean is returned as the result of $p.

Note:

Although the semantics of function coercion are specified in terms of wrapping the functions, static typing will often be able to reduce the number of places where this is actually necessary.

Since maps and arrays are also functions in XQuery 4.0, function coercion applies to them as well. For instance, consider the following expression:

let $m := map {
  "Monday" : true(),
  "Wednesday" : true(),
  "Friday" : true(),
  "Saturday" : false(),
  "Sunday" : false()
},
$days := ("Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday", "Saturday", "Sunday")
return filter($days,$m)

The map $m has a function signature of function(xs:anyAtomicType) as item()*. When the fn:filter() function is called, the following occurs to the map:

  1. The map $m is treated as function($f), equivalent to map:get($m,?).

  2. The coercion rules result in applying function coercion to $f, wrapping $f in a new function ($p) with the signature function(item()) as xs:boolean.

  3. $p is matched against the SequenceType function(item()) as xs:boolean, and succeeds.

  4. When $p is called by fn:filter(), coercion and SequenceType matching rules are applied to the argument, resulting in an item() value ($a) or a type error.

  5. $f is called with $a, which returns an xs:boolean or the empty sequence.

  6. $p applies coercion rule and SequenceType matching to the result sequence from $f. When the result is an xs:boolean the SequenceType matching succeeds. When it is an empty sequence (such as when $m does not contain a key for "Tuesday"), SequenceType matching results in a type error [err:XPTY0004], since the expected type is xs:boolean and the actual type is an empty sequence.

Consider the following expression:

let $m := map {
   "Monday" : true(),
   "Tuesday" : false(),
   "Wednesday" : true(),
   "Thursday" : false(),
   "Friday" : true(),
   "Saturday" : false(),
   "Sunday" : false()
}
let $days := ("Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday", "Saturday", "Sunday")
return filter($days,$m)

The result of the expression is the sequence ("Monday", "Wednesday", "Friday")

4.7 Path Expressions

[133]    PathExpr    ::=    ("/" RelativePathExpr?)
| ("//" RelativePathExpr)
| RelativePathExpr
/* xgc: leading-lone-slash */
[134]    RelativePathExpr    ::=    StepExpr (("/" | "//") StepExpr)*

[Definition: A path expression consists of a series of one or more steps, separated by / or //, and optionally beginning with / or //. A path expression is typically used to locate nodes within trees. ]

Absolute path expressions (those starting with an initial / or //), start their selection from the root node of a tree; relative path expressions (those without a leading / or //) start from the context value.

A path expression consisting of a single step is evaluated as described in 4.7.4 Steps.

4.7.1 Absolute Path Expressions

A path expression consisting of / on its own is treated as an abbreviation for /..

An expression of the form /PP (that is, a path expression with a leading /) is treated as an abbreviation for the expression self::node()/(fn:root(.) treat as document-node())/PP. The effect of this expansion is that for every item J in the context value V:

  1. A type error occurs if J is not a node [err:XPTY0020].

  2. The root node R of the tree containing J is selected.

  3. A dynamic error occurs if R is not a document node [err:XPDY0050].

  4. The expression that follows the leading / is evaluated with R as the context value.

The results of these multiple evaluations are then combined into a single sequence; if the result is a set of nodes, the nodes are delivered in document order with duplicates eliminated.

An expression of the form //PP (that is, a path expression with a leading //) is treated as an abbreviation for the expression self::node()/(fn:root(.) treat as document-node())/descendant-or-self:node()/PP. The effect of this expansion is that for every item J in the context value V:

  1. A type error occurs if J is not a node [err:XPTY0020].

  2. The root node R of the tree containing J is selected.

  3. A dynamic error occurs if R is not a document node [err:XPDY0050].

  4. The descendants of R are selected, along with R itself.

  5. For every node D in this set of nodes, the expression that follows the leading // is evaluated with D as the context value.

The results of these multiple evaluations are then combined into a single sequence; if the result is a set of nodes, the nodes are delivered in document order with duplicates eliminated.

If the context value is not a node, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0020]. At evaluation time, if the root node of the context node is not a document node, a dynamic error is raised [err:XPDY0050].

Note:

The descendants of a node do not include attribute nodes.

Note:

A // on its own is not allowed by the grammar.

4.7.2 Relative Path Expressions

[134]    RelativePathExpr    ::=    StepExpr (("/" | "//") StepExpr)*

A relative path expression is a path expression that selects nodes within a tree by following a series of steps starting at the nodes in the context value (which may be any kind of node, not necessarily the root of the tree).

Each non-initial occurrence of // in a path expression is expanded as described in 4.7.7 Abbreviated Syntax, leaving a sequence of steps separated by /. This sequence of steps is then evaluated from left to right. So a path such as E1/E2/E3/E4 is evaluated as ((E1/E2)/E3)/E4. The semantics of a path expression are thus defined by the semantics of the binary / operator, which is defined in 4.7.3 Path operator (/).

Note:

Although the semantics describe the evaluation of a path with more than two steps as proceeding from left to right, the / operator is in most cases associative, so evaluation from right to left usually delivers the same result. The cases where / is not associative arise when the functions fn:position() and fn:last() are used: A/B/position() delivers a sequence of integers from 1 to the size of (A/B), whereas A/(B/position()) restarts the counting at each B element.

The following example illustrates the use of relative path expressions. In each case it is assumed that the context value is a single node, referred to as the context node.

  • child::div1/child::para

    Selects the para element children of the div1 element children of the context node; that is, the para element grandchildren of the context node that have div1 parents.

Note:

Since each step in a path provides context nodes for the following step, in effect, only the last step in a path is allowed to return a sequence of non-nodes.

Note:

The / character can be used either as a complete path expression or as the beginning of a longer path expression such as /*. Also, * is both the multiply operator and a wildcard in path expressions. This can cause parsing difficulties when / appears on the left-hand side of *. This is resolved using the leading-lone-slash constraint. For example, /* and / * are valid path expressions containing wildcards, but /*5 and / * 5 raise syntax errors. Parentheses must be used when / is used on the left-hand side of an operator, as in (/) * 5. Similarly, 4 + / * 5 raises a syntax error, but 4 + (/) * 5 is a valid expression. The expression 4 + / is also valid, because / does not occur on the left-hand side of the operator.

Similarly, in the expression / union /*, union is interpreted as an element name rather than an operator. For it to be parsed as an operator, the expression should be written (/) union /*.

4.7.3 Path operator (/)

The path operator / is primarily used for locating nodes within trees. Its left-hand operand must return a sequence of nodes. The result of the operator is either a sequence of nodes (in document order, with no duplicates), or a sequence of non-nodes.

The operation E1/E2 is evaluated as follows: Expression E1 is evaluated, and if the result is not a (possibly empty) sequence S of nodes, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0019]. Each node in S then serves in turn to provide an inner focus (the node as the context value, its position in S as the context position, the length of S as the context size) for an evaluation of E2, as described in 2.2.2 Dynamic Context. The sequences resulting from all the evaluations of E2 are combined as follows:

  1. If every evaluation of E2 returns a (possibly empty) sequence of nodes, these sequences are combined, and duplicate nodes are eliminated based on node identity. If ordering mode is ordered, the resulting node sequence is returned in document order; otherwise it is returned in implementation-dependent order.

  2. If every evaluation of E2 returns a (possibly empty) sequence of non-nodes, these sequences are concatenated and returned. If ordering mode is ordered, the returned sequence preserves the orderings within and among the subsequences generated by the evaluations of E2 ; otherwise the order of the returned sequence is implementation-dependent.

  3. If the multiple evaluations of E2 return at least one node and at least one non-node, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0018].

Note:

The semantics of the path operator can also be defined using the simple map operator (!) as follows (forming the union with an empty sequence ($R | ()) has the effect of eliminating duplicates and sorting nodes into document order):

E1/E2 ::= let $R := E1!E2
  return
    if (every $r in $R satisfies $r instance of node())
    then ($R|())
    else if (every $r in $R satisfies not($r instance of node()))
    then $R
    else error()

For a table comparing the step operator to the map operator, see 4.23 Simple map operator (!).

4.7.4 Steps

[135]    StepExpr    ::=    PostfixExpr | AxisStep
[136]    AxisStep    ::=    (ReverseStep | ForwardStep) PredicateList
[137]    ForwardStep    ::=    (ForwardAxis NodeTest) | AbbrevForwardStep
[140]    ReverseStep    ::=    (ReverseAxis NodeTest) | AbbrevReverseStep
[156]    PredicateList    ::=    Predicate*

[Definition: A step is a part of a path expression that generates a sequence of items and then filters the sequence by zero or more predicates. The value of the step consists of those items that satisfy the predicates, working from left to right. A step may be either an axis step or a postfix expression.] Postfix expressions are described in 4.4 Postfix Expressions.

[Definition: An axis step returns a sequence of nodes that are reachable from a starting node via a specified axis. Such a step has two parts: an axis, which defines the "direction of movement" for the step, and a node test, which selects nodes based on their kind, name, and/or type annotation .]

If the context value is a sequence of zero or more nodes, an axis step returns a sequence of zero or more nodes; otherwise, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0020].

The step expression S is equivalent to ./S. Thus, if the context value is a sequence containing multiple nodes, the semantics of a step expression are equivalent to a path expression in which the step is always applied to a single node. The following description therefore explains the semantics for the case where the context value is a single node, called the context node.

Note:

The equivalence of a step S to the path expression ./S means that if ordering mode is ordered, the resulting node sequence is returned in document order; otherwise it is returned in implementation-dependent order.

An axis step may be either a forward step or a reverse step, followed by zero or more predicates.

In the abbreviated syntax for a step, the axis can be omitted and other shorthand notations can be used as described in 4.7.7 Abbreviated Syntax.

The unabbreviated syntax for an axis step consists of the axis name and node test separated by a double colon. The result of the step consists of the nodes reachable from the starting node via the specified axis that have the node kind, name, and/or type annotation specified by the node test. For example, the step child::para selects the para element children of the context node: child is the name of the axis, and para is the name of the element nodes to be selected on this axis. The available axes are described in 4.7.4.1 Axes. The available node tests are described in 4.7.4.2 Node Tests. Examples of steps are provided in 4.7.6 Unabbreviated Syntax and 4.7.7 Abbreviated Syntax.

4.7.4.1 Axes
[138]    ForwardAxis    ::=    ("child" "::")
| ("descendant" "::")
| ("attribute" "::")
| ("self" "::")
| ("descendant-or-self" "::")
| ("following-sibling" "::")
| ("following" "::")
[141]    ReverseAxis    ::=    ("parent" "::")
| ("ancestor" "::")
| ("preceding-sibling" "::")
| ("preceding" "::")
| ("ancestor-or-self" "::")

XQuery supports the following axes:

  • The child axis contains the children of the context node, which are the nodes returned by the Section 5.3 children Accessor DM31.

    Note:

    Only document nodes and element nodes have children. If the context node is any other kind of node, or if the context node is an empty document or element node, then the child axis is an empty sequence. The children of a document node or element node may be element, processing instruction, comment, or text nodes. Attribute and document nodes can never appear as children.

  • The descendant axis is defined as the transitive closure of the child axis; it contains the descendants of the context node (the children, the children of the children, and so on).

  • The parent axis contains the sequence returned by the Section 5.11 parent Accessor DM31, which returns the parent of the context node, or an empty sequence if the context node has no parent.

    Note:

    An attribute node may have an element node as its parent, even though the attribute node is not a child of the element node.

  • The ancestor axis is defined as the transitive closure of the parent axis; it contains the ancestors of the context node (the parent, the parent of the parent, and so on).

    Note:

    The ancestor axis includes the root node of the tree in which the context node is found, unless the context node is the root node.

  • the following-sibling axis contains the context node’s following siblings, those children of the context node’s parent that occur after the context node in document order; if the context node is an attribute node, the following-sibling axis is empty.

  • the preceding-sibling axis contains the context node’s preceding siblings, those children of the context node’s parent that occur before the context node in document order; if the context node is an attribute node, the preceding-sibling axis is empty.

  • The following axis contains all nodes that are descendants of the root of the tree in which the context node is found, are not descendants of the context node, and occur after the context node in document order.

  • The preceding axis contains all nodes that are descendants of the root of the tree in which the context node is found, are not ancestors of the context node, and occur before the context node in document order.

  • The attribute axis contains the attributes of the context node, which are the nodes returned by the Section 5.1 attributes Accessor DM31 ; the axis will be empty unless the context node is an element.

  • The self axis contains just the context node itself.

  • The descendant-or-self axis contains the context node and the descendants of the context node.

  • The ancestor-or-self axis contains the context node and the ancestors of the context node; thus, the ancestor-or-self axis will always include the root node.

Axes can be categorized as forward axes and reverse axes. An axis that only ever contains the context node or nodes that are after the context node in document order is a forward axis. An axis that only ever contains the context node or nodes that are before the context node in document order is a reverse axis.

The parent, ancestor, ancestor-or-self, preceding, and preceding-sibling axes are reverse axes; all other axes are forward axes. The ancestor, descendant, following, preceding and self axes partition a document (ignoring attribute nodes): they do not overlap and together they contain all the nodes in the document.

[Definition: 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.] Thus:

  • For the attribute axis, the principal node kind is attribute.

  • For all other axes, the principal node kind is element.

4.7.4.2 Node Tests

[Definition: A node test is a condition on the name, kind (element, attribute, text, document, comment, or processing instruction), and/or type annotation of a node. A node test determines which nodes contained by an axis are selected by a step.]

[143]    NodeTest    ::=    UnionNodeTest | SimpleNodeTest
[144]    UnionNodeTest    ::=    "(" SimpleNodeTest ("|" SimpleNodeTest)* ")"
[145]    SimpleNodeTest    ::=    KindTest | NameTest
[146]    NameTest    ::=    EQName | Wildcard
[147]    Wildcard    ::=    "*"
| (NCName ":*")
| ("*:" NCName)
| (BracedURILiteral "*")
/* ws: explicit */
[264]    EQName    ::=    QName | URIQualifiedName
[227]    KindTest    ::=    DocumentTest
| ElementTest
| AttributeTest
| SchemaElementTest
| SchemaAttributeTest
| PITest
| CommentTest
| TextTest
| NamespaceNodeTest
| AnyKindTest

A UnionNodeTest matches a node N if at least one of the constituent SimpleNodeTests matches N.

For example, (div1|div2|div3) matches a node named div1, div2, or div3

[Definition: A node test that consists only of an EQName or a Wildcard is called a name test.] A name test that consists of an EQName matches a node N if and only if the kind of node N is the principal node kind for the step axis and the expanded QName of the node is equal (as defined by the eq operator) to the expanded QName specified by the name test. For example, child::para selects the para element children of the context node; if the context node has no para children, it selects an empty set of nodes. attribute::abc:href selects the attribute of the context node with the QName abc:href; if the context node has no such attribute, it selects an empty set of nodes.

If the EQName is a lexical QName, it is resolved into an expanded QName using the statically known namespaces in the expression context. It is a static error [err:XPST0081] if the QName has a prefix that does not correspond to any statically known namespace. An unprefixed QName, when used as a name test on an axis whose principal node kind is interpreted as follows:

A name test is not satisfied by an element node whose name does not match the expanded QName of the name test, even if it is in a substitution group whose head is the named element.

A node test * is true for any node of the principal node kind of the step axis. For example, child::* will select all element children of the context node, and attribute::* will select all attributes of the context node.

A node test can have the form NCName:*. In this case, the prefix is expanded in the same way as with a lexical QName, using the statically known namespaces in the static context. If the prefix is not found in the statically known namespaces, a static error is raised [err:XPST0081]. The node test is true for any node of the principal node kind of the step axis whose expanded QName has the namespace URI to which the prefix is bound, regardless of the local part of the name.

A node test can contain an BracedURILiteral, for example Q{http://example.com/msg}* Such a node test is true for any node of the principal node kind of the step axis whose expanded QName has the namespace URI specified in the BracedURILiteral, regardless of the local part of the name.

A node test can also have the form *:NCName. In this case, the node test is true for any node of the principal node kind of the step axis whose local name matches the given NCName, regardless of its namespace or lack of a namespace.

[Definition: An alternative form of a node test called a kind test can select nodes based on their kind, name, and type annotation.] The syntax and semantics of a kind test are described in 3.4 Sequence Types and 3.5 Sequence Type Matching. When a kind test is used in a node test, only those nodes on the designated axis that match the kind test are selected. Shown below are several examples of kind tests that might be used in path expressions:

  • node() matches any node.

  • text() matches any text node.

  • comment() matches any comment node.

  • namespace-node() matches any namespace node.

  • element() matches any element node.

  • schema-element(person) matches any element node whose name is person (or is in the substitution group headed by person), and whose type annotation is the same as (or is derived from) the declared type of the person element in the in-scope element declarations.

  • element(person) matches any element node whose name is person, regardless of its type annotation.

  • element(doctor|nurse) matches any element node whose name is doctor or nurse, regardless of its type annotation.

  • element(person, surgeon) matches any non-nilled element node whose name is person, and whose type annotation is surgeon or is derived from surgeon.

  • element(doctor|nurse, medical-staff) matches any non-nilled element node whose name is doctor or nurse, and whose type annotation is medical-staff or is derived from medical-staff.

  • element(*, surgeon) matches any non-nilled element node whose type annotation is surgeon (or is derived from surgeon), regardless of its name.

  • attribute() matches any attribute node.

  • attribute(price) matches any attribute whose name is price, regardless of its type annotation.

  • attribute(*, xs:decimal) matches any attribute whose type annotation is xs:decimal (or is derived from xs:decimal), regardless of its name.

  • document-node() matches any document node.

  • document-node(element(book)) matches any document node whose content consists of a single element node that satisfies the kind test element(book), interleaved with zero or more comments and processing instructions.

4.7.4.3 Implausible Axis Steps

Certain axis steps, given an inferred type for the context value, are classified as implausible. During the static analysis phase, a processor may (subject to the rules in 2.4.6 Implausible Expressions) report a static error when such axis steps are encountered: [err:XPTY0144].

More specifically, an axis step is classified as implausible if any of the following conditions applies:

  1. The inferred item type of the context value is a node kind for which the specified axis is always empty: for example, the inferred item type of the context value is attribute() and the axis is child.

  2. The node test exclusively selects node kinds that cannot appear on the specified axis: for example, the axis is child and the node test is document-node().

  3. In a schema-aware environment, when using the child, descendant, descendant-or-self, or attribute axes, the inferred item type of the context value has a content type that does not allow any node matching the node test to be present on the relevant axis. For example, if the inferred item type of the context value is schema-element(list) and the relevant element declaration (taking into account substitution group membership and wildcards) only allows item children, the axis step child::li will never select anything and is therefore classified as implausible.

Note:

Processors may choose not to classify the expression /.. as implausible, since XSLT 1.0 users were sometimes advised to use this construct as an explicit way of denoting the empty sequence.

4.7.5 Predicates within Steps

[136]    AxisStep    ::=    (ReverseStep | ForwardStep) PredicateList
[156]    PredicateList    ::=    Predicate*
[157]    Predicate    ::=    "[" Expr "]"

A predicate within a Step has similar syntax and semantics to a predicate within a filter expression. The only difference is in the way the context position is set for evaluation of the predicate.

For the purpose of evaluating the context position within a predicate, the input sequence is considered to be sorted as follows: into document order if the predicate is in a forward-axis step, into reverse document order if the predicate is in a reverse-axis step, or in its original order if the predicate is not in a step.

Here are some examples of axis steps that contain predicates:

  • This example selects the second chapter element that is a child of the context node:

    child::chapter[2]
  • This example selects all the descendants of the context node that are elements named "toy" and whose color attribute has the value "red":

    descendant::toy[attribute::color = "red"]
  • This example selects all the employee children of the context node that have both a secretary child element and an assistant child element:

    child::employee[secretary][assistant]

Note:

When using predicates with a sequence of nodes selected using a reverse axis, the context positions for such a sequence are assigned in reverse document order. For example, preceding::foo[1] returns the first qualifying foo element in reverse document order, because the predicate is part of an axis step using a reverse axis. By contrast, (preceding::foo)[1] returns the first qualifying foo element in document order, because the parentheses cause (preceding::foo) to be parsed as a primary expression in which context positions are assigned in document order. Similarly, ancestor::*[1] returns the nearest ancestor element, because the ancestor axis is a reverse axis, whereas (ancestor::*)[1] returns the root element (first ancestor in document order).

The fact that a reverse-axis step assigns context positions in reverse document order for the purpose of evaluating predicates does not alter the fact that the final result of the step (when in ordered mode) is always in document order.

The expression ancestor::(div1|div2)[1] does not have the same meaning as (ancestor::div1|ancestor::div2)[1]. In the first expression, the predicate [1] is within a step that uses a reverse axis, so nodes are counted in reverse document order. In the second expression, the predicate applies to the result of a union expression, so nodes are counted in document order.

When the context value for evaluation of a step includes multiple nodes, the step is evaluated separately for each of those nodes, and the results are combined. This means, for example, that if the context value contains three list nodes, and each of those nodes has multiple item children, then the step item[1] will deliver a sequence of three item elements, namely the first item from each list.

4.7.6 Unabbreviated Syntax

This section provides a number of examples of path expressions in which the axis is explicitly specified in each step. The syntax used in these examples is called the unabbreviated syntax. In many common cases, it is possible to write path expressions more concisely using an abbreviated syntax, as explained in 4.7.7 Abbreviated Syntax.

These examples assume that the context value is a single node, referred to as the context node.

  • child::para selects the para element children of the context node.

  • child::(para|bullet) selects the para and bullet element children of the context node.

  • child::* selects all element children of the context node.

  • child::text() selects all text node children of the context node.

  • child::(text()|comment()) selects all text node and comment node children of the context node.

  • child::node() selects all the children of the context node. Note that no attribute nodes are returned, because attributes are not children.

  • attribute::name selects the name attribute of the context node.

  • attribute::* selects all the attributes of the context node.

  • parent::node() selects the parent of the context node. If the context node is an attribute node, this expression returns the element node (if any) to which the attribute node is attached.

  • descendant::para selects the para element descendants of the context node.

  • ancestor::div selects all div ancestors of the context node.

  • ancestor-or-self::div selects the div ancestors of the context node and, if the context node is a div element, the context node as well.

  • descendant-or-self::para selects the para element descendants of the context node and, if the context node is a para element, the context node as well.

  • self::para selects the context node if it is a para element, and otherwise returns an empty sequence.

  • self::(chapter|appendix) selects the context node if it is a chapter or appendix element, and otherwise returns an empty sequence.

  • child::chapter/descendant::para selects the para element descendants of the chapter element children of the context node.

  • child::*/child::para selects all para grandchildren of the context node.

  • / selects the root of the tree that contains the context node, but raises a dynamic error if this root is not a document node.

  • /descendant::para selects all the para elements in the same document as the context node.

  • /descendant::list/child::member selects all the member elements that have a list parent and that are in the same document as the context node.

  • child::para[position() = 1] selects the first para child of the context node.

  • child::para[position() = last()] selects the last para child of the context node.

  • child::para[position() = last()-1] selects the last but one para child of the context node.

  • child::para[position() > 1] selects all the para children of the context node other than the first para child of the context node.

  • following-sibling::chapter[position() = 1] selects the next chapter sibling of the context node.

  • following-sibling::(chapter|appendix)[position() = 1] selects the next sibling of the context node that is either a chapter or an appendix.

  • preceding-sibling::chapter[position() = 1] selects the previous chapter sibling of the context node.

  • /descendant::figure[position() = 42] selects the forty-second figure element in the document containing the context node.

  • /child::book/child::chapter[position() = 5]/child::section[position() = 2] selects the second section of the fifth chapter of the book whose parent is the document node that contains the context node.

  • child::para[attribute::type eq "warning"] selects all para children of the context node that have a type attribute with value warning.

  • child::para[attribute::type eq 'warning'][position() = 5] selects the fifth para child of the context node that has a type attribute with value warning.

  • child::para[position() = 5][attribute::type eq "warning"] selects the fifth para child of the context node if that child has a type attribute with value warning.

  • child::chapter[child::title = 'Introduction'] selects the chapter children of the context node that have one or more title children whose typed value is equal to the string Introduction.

  • child::chapter[child::title] selects the chapter children of the context node that have one or more title children.

  • child::*[self::chapter or self::appendix] selects the chapter and appendix children of the context node.

  • child::*[self::(chapter|appendix)][position() = last()] selects the last chapter or appendix child of the context node.

4.7.7 Abbreviated Syntax

[139]    AbbrevForwardStep    ::=    ("@" NodeTest) | SimpleNodeTest
[142]    AbbrevReverseStep    ::=    ".."

The abbreviated syntax permits the following abbreviations:

  1. The attribute axis attribute:: can be abbreviated by @. For example, a path expression para[@type="warning"] is short for child::para[attribute::type="warning"] and so selects para children with a type attribute with value equal to warning.

  2. If the axis name is omitted from an axis step, the default axis is child, with two exceptions: (1) if the NodeTest in an axis step contains an AttributeTest or SchemaAttributeTest then the default axis is attribute; (2) if the NodeTest in an axis step is a NamespaceNodeTest then a static error is raised [err:XQST0134].

    Note:

    The namespace axis is deprecated as of XPath 2.0, but is required in some languages that use XPath, including XSLT.

    For example, the path expression section/para is an abbreviation for child::section/child::para, and the path expression section/@id is an abbreviation for child::section/attribute::id. Similarly, section/attribute(id) is an abbreviation for child::section/attribute::attribute(id). Note that the latter expression contains both an axis specification and a node test.

    Note:

    An abbreviated axis step that omits the axis name must use a SimpleNodeTest rather than a UnionNodeTest. This means that a construct such as (ul|ol) is treated as an abbreviation for (child::ul|child::ol) rather than child::(ul|ol). Since the two constructs have exactly the same semantics, this is not actually a restriction.

  3. Each non-initial occurrence of // is effectively replaced by /descendant-or-self::node()/ during processing of a path expression. For example, div1//para is short for child::div1/descendant-or-self::node()/child::para and so will select all para descendants of div1 children.

    Note:

    The path expression //para[1] does not mean the same as the path expression /descendant::para[1]. The latter selects the first descendant para element; the former selects all descendant para elements that are the first para children of their respective parents.

  4. A step consisting of .. is short for parent::node(). For example, ../title is short for parent::node()/child::title and so will select the title children of the parent of the context node.

    Note:

    The expression ., known as a context value expression, is a primary expression, and is described in 4.3.4 Context Value Expression.

Here are some examples of path expressions that use the abbreviated syntax. These examples assume that the context value is a single node, referred to as the context node:

  • para selects the para element children of the context node.

  • * selects all element children of the context node.

  • text() selects all text node children of the context node.

  • @name selects the name attribute of the context node.

  • @(id|name) selects the id and name attributes of the context node.

  • @* selects all the attributes of the context node.

  • para[1] selects the first para child of the context node.

  • para[last()] selects the last para child of the context node.

  • */para selects all para grandchildren of the context node.

  • /book/chapter[5]/section[2] selects the second section of the fifth chapter of the book whose parent is the document node that contains the context node.

  • chapter//para selects the para element descendants of the chapter element children of the context node.

  • //para selects all the para descendants of the root document node and thus selects all para elements in the same document as the context node.

  • //@version selects all the version attribute nodes that are in the same document as the context node.

  • //list/member selects all the member elements in the same document as the context node that have a list parent.

  • .//para selects the para element descendants of the context node.

  • .. selects the parent of the context node.

  • ../@lang selects the lang attribute of the parent of the context node.

  • para[@type="warning"] selects all para children of the context node that have a type attribute with value warning.

  • para[@type="warning"][5] selects the fifth para child of the context node that has a type attribute with value warning.

  • para[5][@type="warning"] selects the fifth para child of the context node if that child has a type attribute with value warning.

  • chapter[title="Introduction"] selects the chapter children of the context node that have one or more title children whose typed value is equal to the string Introduction.

  • chapter[title] selects the chapter children of the context node that have one or more title children.

  • employee[@secretary and @assistant] selects all the employee children of the context node that have both a secretary attribute and an assistant attribute.

  • book/(chapter|appendix)/section selects every section element that has a parent that is either a chapter or an appendix element, that in turn is a child of a book element that is a child of the context node.

  • If E is any expression that returns a sequence of nodes, then the expression E/. returns the same nodes in document order, with duplicates eliminated based on node identity.

4.8 Sequence Expressions

XQuery 4.0 supports operators to construct, filter, and combine sequences of items. Sequences are never nested—for example, combining the values 1, (2, 3), and ( ) into a single sequence results in the sequence (1, 2, 3).

4.8.1 Sequence Concatenation

[45]    Expr    ::=    ExprSingle ("," ExprSingle)*

[Definition: One way to construct a sequence is by using the comma operator, which evaluates each of its operands and concatenates the resulting sequences, in order, into a single result sequence.] Empty parentheses can be used to denote an empty sequence.

A sequence may contain duplicate items, but a sequence is never an item in another sequence. When a new sequence is created by concatenating two or more input sequences, the new sequence contains all the items of the input sequences and its length is the sum of the lengths of the input sequences.

Note:

In places where the grammar calls for ExprSingle, such as the arguments of a function call, any expression that contains a top-level comma operator must be enclosed in parentheses.

Here are some examples of expressions that construct sequences:

  • The result of this expression is a sequence of five integers:

    (10, 1, 2, 3, 4)
  • This expression combines four sequences of length one, two, zero, and two, respectively, into a single sequence of length five. The result of this expression is the sequence 10, 1, 2, 3, 4.

    (10, (1, 2), (), (3, 4))
  • The result of this expression is a sequence containing all salary children of the context node followed by all bonus children.

    (salary, bonus)
  • Assuming that $price is bound to the value 10.50, the result of this expression is the sequence 10.50, 10.50.

    ($price, $price)

4.8.2 Range Expressions

[108]    RangeExpr    ::=    AdditiveExpr ( "to" AdditiveExpr )?

A RangeExpression can be used to construct a sequence of integers. Each of the operands is converted as though it was an argument of a function with the expected parameter type xs:integer?. If either operand is an empty sequence, or if the integer derived from the first operand is greater than the integer derived from the second operand, the result of the range expression is an empty sequence. If the two operands convert to the same integer, the result of the range expression is that integer. Otherwise, the result is a sequence containing the two integer operands and every integer between the two operands, in increasing order.

The following examples illustrate the semantics:

  • 1 to 4 returns the sequence 1, 2, 3, 4

  • 10 to 10 returns the singleton sequence 10

  • 10 to 1 returns the empty sequence

  • -13 to -10 returns the sequence -13, -12, -11, -10

More formally, a RangeExpression is evaluated as follows:

  1. Each of the operands of the to operator is converted as though it was an argument of a function with the expected parameter type xs:integer?.

  2. If either operand is an empty sequence, or if the integer derived from the first operand is greater than the integer derived from the second operand, the result of the range expression is an empty sequence.

  3. If the two operands convert to the same integer, the result of the range expression is that integer.

  4. Otherwise, the result is a sequence containing the two integer operands and every integer between the two operands, in increasing order.

The following examples illustrate the use of RangeExpressions .

This example uses a range expression as one operand in constructing a sequence. It evaluates to the sequence 10, 1, 2, 3, 4.

(10, 1 to 4)

This example selects the first four items from an input sequence:

$input[position() = 1 to 4]

This example returns the sequence (0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5):

$x = (1 to 5)!.*0.1

This example constructs a sequence of length one containing the single integer 10.

10 to 10

The result of this example is a sequence of length zero.

15 to 10

This example uses the fn:reverse function to construct a sequence of six integers in decreasing order. It evaluates to the sequence 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10.

reverse(10 to 15)

4.8.3 Combining Node Sequences

[112]    UnionExpr    ::=    IntersectExceptExpr ( ("union" | "|") IntersectExceptExpr )*
[113]    IntersectExceptExpr    ::=    InstanceofExpr ( ("intersect" | "except") InstanceofExpr )*

XQuery 4.0 provides the following operators for combining sequences of nodes:

  • The union and | operators are equivalent. They take two node sequences as operands and return a sequence containing all the nodes that occur in either of the operands.

  • The intersect operator takes two node sequences as operands and returns a sequence containing all the nodes that occur in both operands.

  • The except operator takes two node sequences as operands and returns a sequence containing all the nodes that occur in the first operand but not in the second operand.

All these operators eliminate duplicate nodes from their result sequences based on node identity. If ordering mode is ordered, the resulting sequence is returned in document order; otherwise it is returned in implementation-dependent order.

If an operand of union, intersect, or except contains an item that is not a node, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004].

If an IntersectExceptExpr contains more than two InstanceofExprs, they are grouped from left to right. With a UnionExpr, it makes no difference how operands are grouped, the results are the same.

Here are some examples of expressions that combine sequences. Assume the existence of three element nodes that we will refer to by symbolic names A, B, and C. Assume that ordering mode is ordered. Assume that the variables $seq1, $seq2 and $seq3 are bound to the following sequences of these nodes:

  • $seq1 is bound to (A, B)

  • $seq2 is bound to (A, B)

  • $seq3 is bound to (B, C)

Then:

  • $seq1 union $seq2 evaluates to the sequence (A, B).

  • $seq2 union $seq3 evaluates to the sequence (A, B, C).

  • $seq1 intersect $seq2 evaluates to the sequence (A, B).

  • $seq2 intersect $seq3 evaluates to the sequence containing B only.

  • $seq1 except $seq2 evaluates to the empty sequence.

  • $seq2 except $seq3 evaluates to the sequence containing A only.

In addition to the sequence operators described here, see Section 14 Functions and operators on sequences FO31 for functions defined on sequences.

4.9 Arithmetic Expressions

XQuery 4.0 provides arithmetic operators for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and modulus, in their usual binary and unary forms.

[109]    AdditiveExpr    ::=    MultiplicativeExpr ( ("+" | "-") MultiplicativeExpr )*
[110]    MultiplicativeExpr    ::=    OtherwiseExpr ( ("*" | "×" | "div" | "÷" | "idiv" | "mod") OtherwiseExpr )*
[119]    UnaryExpr    ::=    ("-" | "+")* ValueExpr
[120]    ValueExpr    ::=    ValidateExpr | ExtensionExpr | SimpleMapExpr

A subtraction operator must be preceded by whitespace if it could otherwise be interpreted as part of the previous token. For example, a-b will be interpreted as a name, but a - b and a -b will be interpreted as arithmetic expressions. (See A.3.5 Whitespace Rules for further details on whitespace handling.)

The arithmetic operator symbols * and × (xD7) are interchangeable, and denote multiplication.

The arithmetic operator symbols div and ÷ (xF7) are interchangeable, and denote division.

If an AdditiveExpr contains more than two MultiplicativeExprs, they are grouped from left to right. So, for instance,

A - B + C - D

is equivalent to

((A - B) + C) - D

Similarly, the operands of a MultiplicativeExpr are grouped from left to right.

The first step in evaluating an arithmetic expression is to evaluate its operands. The order in which the operands are evaluated is implementation-dependent.

Each operand is evaluated by applying the following steps, in order:

  1. Atomization is applied to the operand. The result of this operation is called the atomized operand.

  2. If the atomized operand is an empty sequence, the result of the arithmetic expression is an empty sequence, and the implementation need not evaluate the other operand or apply the operator. However, an implementation may choose to evaluate the other operand in order to determine whether it raises an error.

  3. If the atomized operand is a sequence of length greater than one, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004].

  4. If the atomized operand is of type xs:untypedAtomic, it is cast to xs:double. If the cast fails, a dynamic error is raised. [err:FORG0001]FO31

After evaluation of the operands, if the types of the operands are a valid combination for the given arithmetic operator, the operator is applied to the operands, resulting in an atomic value or a dynamic error (for example, an error might result from dividing by zero). The combinations of atomic types that are accepted by the various arithmetic operators, and their respective result types, are listed in B.2 Operator Mapping together with the operator functions that define the semantics of the operator for each type combination, including the dynamic errors that can be raised by the operator. The definitions of the operator functions are found in [XQuery and XPath Functions and Operators 4.0].

If the types of the operands, after evaluation, are not a valid combination for the given operator, according to the rules in B.2 Operator Mapping, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004].

XQuery 4.0 provides three division operators:

Here are some examples of arithmetic expressions:

  • The first expression below returns the xs:decimal value -1.5, and the second expression returns the xs:integer value -1:

    -3 div 2
    -3 idiv 2
  • Subtraction of two date values results in a value of type xs:dayTimeDuration:

    $emp/hiredate - $emp/birthdate
  • This example illustrates the difference between a subtraction operator and a hyphen:

    $unit-price - $unit-discount
  • Unary operators have higher precedence than binary operators (other than !, /, and []), subject of course to the use of parentheses. Therefore, the following two examples have different meanings:

    -$bellcost + $whistlecost
    -($bellcost + $whistlecost)

Note:

Multiple consecutive unary arithmetic operators are permitted.

4.10 String Expressions

This section describes several ways of constructing strings.

4.10.1 String Concatenation Expressions

[107]    StringConcatExpr    ::=    RangeExpr ( "||" RangeExpr )*

String concatenation expressions allow the string representations of values to be concatenated. In XQuery 4.0, $a || $b is equivalent to fn:concat($a, $b). The following expression evaluates to the string concatenate:

() || "con" || ("cat", "enate")

4.10.2 String Templates

[212]    StringTemplate    ::=    "`" (StringTemplateFixedPart | StringTemplateVariablePart)* "`" /* ws: explicit */
[213]    StringTemplateFixedPart    ::=    ((Char - ('{' | '}' | '`')) | "{{" | "}}" | "``")* /* ws: explicit */
[214]    StringTemplateVariablePart    ::=    EnclosedExpr /* ws: explicit */
[41]    EnclosedExpr    ::=    "{" Expr? "}"

String templates provide an alternative way of constructing strings. For example, the expression `Pi is {round(math:pi(), 4)}` returns the string "Pi is 3.1416".

A string template starts and ends with a grave accent (x60), popularly known as a back-tick. Between the back-ticks is a string consisting of an sequence of fixed parts and variable parts:

  • A variable part consists of an optional XPath expression enclosed in curly brackets ({}): more specifically, a string conforming to the XPath production Expr?.

    Note:

    An expression within a variable part may contain an unescaped curly bracket within a StringLiteral or within a comment.

    Currently no XPath expression starts with an opening curly bracket, so the use of {{ creates no ambiguity. If an enclosed expression ends with a closing curly bracket, no whitespace is required between this and the closing delimiter.

    The fact that the expression is optional means that the string contained between the curly brackets may be zero-length, may comprise whitespace only, or may contain XPath comments. The effective value in this case is a zero-length string, which is equivalent to omitting the variable part entirely, together with its curly-bracket delimiters.

  • A fixed part may contain any characters, except that:

    • a left curly bracket must be written as {{

    • a right curly bracket must be written as }}.

    • a back-tick must be written as ``.

The result of evaluating a string template is the string obtained by concatenating the expansions of the fixed and variable parts:

  • The expansion of a fixed part is obtained by replacing any double curly brackets ({{ or }}) by the corresponding single curly bracket, and replacing doubled back-ticks (``) by a single back-tick.

  • The expansion of a variable part containing an expression is as follows:

    1. Atomization is applied to the value of the enclosed expression, converting it to a sequence of atomic values.

    2. If the result of atomization is an empty sequence, the result is the zero-length string. Otherwise, each atomic value in the atomized sequence is cast into a string.

    3. The individual strings resulting from the previous step are merged into a single string by concatenating them with a single space character between each pair.

  • The expansion of an empty variable part (one that contains no expression) is a zero-length string.

For example:

let $greeting := "Hello",
    $planet := "Mars"
return `{$greeting}, {$planet}!`

returns "Hello, Mars!".

The expression:

let $longMonths := (1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12)
return `The months with 31 days are: {$longMonths}.`

returns "The months with 31 days are: 1 3 5 7 8 10 12.".

Note:

The rules for processing an enclosed expression are identical to the rules for attributes in XQuery direct element constructors. These rules differ slightly from the rules in XSLT attribute value templates, where adjacent text nodes are concatenated with no separator, prior to atomization.

Note:

A string template containing no variable parts is effectively just another way of writing a string literal: "Goethe", 'Goethe', and `Goethe` are interchangeable. This means that back-ticks can sometimes be a useful way of delimiting a string that contains both single and double quotes: `He said: "I didn't."`.

It is sometimes useful to use string templates in conjunction with the fn:char function to build strings containing special characters, for example `Chapter{fn:char("nbsp")}{$chapNr}`.

Note:

String literals containing an ampersand behave differently between XPath and XQuery: in XPath (unless first expanded by an XML parser) the string literal "Bacon & Eggs" represents a string containing an ampersand, while in XQuery it is an error, because an ampersand is taken as introducing a character reference. This difference does not arise for string templates, since neither XPath nor XQuery recognizes entity or character references in a string template. This means that back-tick delimited strings (such as `Bacon & Eggs`) may be useful in contexts where an XPath expression is required to have the same effect whether it is evaluated using an XPath or an XQuery processor.

In XQuery, the token ``[ is recognized as the start of a string constructor, under the “longest token” rule (see A.3 Lexical structure). This means that the construct ``[1] is not recognized as a StringTemplate followed by a predicate. In the unlikely event that an empty StringTemplate followed by a predicate is wanted, whitespace or parentheses can be used to avoid the tokenization problem.

4.10.3 String Constructors

[Definition: A String Constructor creates a string from literal text and interpolated expressions. ]

The syntax of a string constructor is convenient for generating JSON, JavaScript, CSS, SPARQL, XQuery, XPath, or other languages that use curly brackets, quotation marks, or other strings that are delimiters in XQuery 4.0.

[215]    StringConstructor    ::=    "``[" StringConstructorContent "]``" /* ws: explicit */
[216]    StringConstructorContent    ::=    StringConstructorChars (StringInterpolation StringConstructorChars)* /* ws: explicit */
[217]    StringConstructorChars    ::=    (Char* - (Char* ('`{' | ']``') Char*)) /* ws: explicit */
[218]    StringInterpolation    ::=    "`{" Expr? "}`" /* ws: explicit */

Note:

String templates (see 4.10.2 String Templates) and string constructors have overlapping functionality. String constructors were introduced in XQuery 3.1, and are not available in XPath; string templates are new in XQuery 4.0 and XPath 4.0. String constructors were designed specifically for convenience when generating code in languages that use curly braces, but with experience, they have been found to be somewhat unwieldy for simpler applications; this motivated the introduction of a simpler syntax in 4.0.

In a string constructor, adjacent string constructor characters are treated as literal text. Line endings are processed as elsewhere in XQuery; no other processing is performed on this text. To evaluate a string constructor, each sequence of adjacent string constructor characters is converted to a string containing the same characters, and each string constructor interpolation $i is evaluated, then converted to a string using the expression string-join($i, ' '). A string constructor interpolation that does not contain an expression (`{ }`) is ignored. The strings created from string constructor characters and the strings created from string constructor interpolations are then concatenated, in order.

For instance, the following expression:

for $s in ("one", "two", "red", "blue")
return ``[`{$s}` fish]``

evaluates to the sequence ("one fish", "two fish", "red fish", "blue fish").

Note:

Character entities are not expanded in string constructor content. Thus, ``[&lt;]`` evaluates to the string "&lt;", not the string "<".

Interpolations can contain string constructors. For instance, consider the following expression:

``[`{ $i, ``[literal text]``, $j, ``[more literal text]`` }`]``

Assuming the values $i := 1 and $j := 2, this evaluates to the string "1 literal text 2 more literal text".

The following examples are based on an example taken from the documentation of [Moustache], a JavaScript template library. Each function takes a map, containing values like these:

map {
  "name": "Chris",
  "value": 10000,
  "taxed_value": 10000 - (10000 * 0.4),
  "in_ca": true
}

This function creates a simple string.

declare function local:prize-message($a) as xs:string
{
``[Hello `{$a?name}`
You have just won `{$a?value}` dollars!
`{ 
   if ($a?in_ca) 
   then ``[Well, `{$a?taxed_value}` dollars, after taxes.]``
   else ""
}`]``
};

This is the output of the above function :

Hello Chris
You have just won 10000 dollars!
Well, 6000 dollars, after taxes.

This function creates a similar string in HTML syntax.

declare function local:prize-message($a) as xs:string
{
``[<div>
  <h1>Hello `{$a?name}`</h1>
  <p>You have just won `{$a?value}` dollars!</p>
    `{ 
      if ($a?in_ca) 
      then ``[  <p>Well, `{$a?taxed_value}` dollars, after taxes.</p> ]``
      else ""
    }`
</div>]``
};

This is the output of the above function :

<div>
  <h1>Hello Chris</h1>
  <p>You have just won 10000 dollars!</p>
  <p>Well, 6000 dollars, after taxes.</p> 
</div>

This function creates a similar string in JSON syntax.

declare function local:prize-message($a) as xs:string
{
``[{ 
  "name" : `{ $a?name }`
  "value" : `{ $a?value }`
  `{
  if ($a?in_ca) 
  then 
  ``[, 
  "taxed_value" : `{ $a?taxed_value }`]``  
  else ""
  }`
}]`` 
};

This is the output of the above function :

{ 
  "name" : "Chris",
  "value" : 10000,
  "taxed_value" : 6000
}

4.11 Comparison Expressions

Comparison expressions allow two values to be compared. XQuery 4.0 provides three kinds of comparison expressions, called value comparisons, general comparisons, and node comparisons.

[106]    ComparisonExpr    ::=    StringConcatExpr ( (ValueComp
| GeneralComp
| NodeComp) StringConcatExpr )?
[125]    ValueComp    ::=    "eq" | "ne" | "lt" | "le" | "gt" | "ge"
[124]    GeneralComp    ::=    "=" | "!=" | "<" | "<=" | ">" | ">="
[126]    NodeComp    ::=    "is" | "<<" | ">>"

4.11.1 Value Comparisons

The value comparison operators are eq, ne, lt, le, gt, and ge. Value comparisons are used for comparing single values.

The first step in evaluating a value comparison is to evaluate its operands. The order in which the operands are evaluated is implementation-dependent. Each operand is evaluated by applying the following steps, in order:

  1. Atomization is applied to each operand. The result of this operation is called the atomized operand.

  2. If an atomized operand is an empty sequence, the result of the value comparison is an empty sequence, and the implementation need not evaluate the other operand or apply the operator. However, an implementation may choose to evaluate the other operand in order to determine whether it raises an error.

  3. If an atomized operand is a sequence of length greater than one, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004].

  4. If an atomized operand is of type xs:untypedAtomic, it is cast to xs:string.

    Note:

    The purpose of this rule is to make value comparisons transitive. Users should be aware that the general comparison operators have a different rule for casting of xs:untypedAtomic operands. Users should also be aware that transitivity of value comparisons may be compromised by loss of precision during type conversion (for example, two xs:integer values that differ slightly may both be considered equal to the same xs:float value because xs:float has less precision than xs:integer).

  5. If the two operands are instances of different primitive types (meaning the 19 primitive types defined in Section 3.2 Primitive datatypesXS2), then:

    1. If each operand is an instance of one of the types xs:string or xs:anyURI, then both operands are cast to type xs:string.

    2. If each operand is an instance of one of the types xs:decimal or xs:float, then both operands are cast to type xs:float.

    3. If each operand is an instance of one of the types xs:decimal, xs:float, or xs:double, then both operands are cast to type xs:double.

    4. Otherwise, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004].

      Note:

      The primitive type of an xs:integer value for this purpose is xs:decimal.

  6. Finally, if the types of the operands are a valid combination for the given operator, the operator is applied to the operands.

The combinations of atomic types that are accepted by the various value comparison operators, and their respective result types, are listed in B.2 Operator Mapping together with the operator functions that define the semantics of the operator for each type combination. The definitions of the operator functions are found in [XQuery and XPath Functions and Operators 4.0].

Informally, if both atomized operands consist of exactly one atomic value, then the result of the comparison is true if the value of the first operand is (equal, not equal, less than, less than or equal, greater than, greater than or equal) to the value of the second operand; otherwise the result of the comparison is false.

If the types of the operands, after evaluation, are not a valid combination for the given operator, according to the rules in B.2 Operator Mapping, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004].

Here are some examples of value comparisons:

  • The following comparison atomizes the node(s) that are returned by the expression $book/author. The comparison is true only if the result of atomization is the value "Kennedy" as an instance of xs:string or xs:untypedAtomic. If the result of atomization is an empty sequence, the result of the comparison is an empty sequence. If the result of atomization is a sequence containing more than one value, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004].

    $book1/author eq "Kennedy"
  • The following comparison is true because atomization converts an array to its member sequence:

    [ "Kennedy" ] eq "Kennedy"
  • The following path expression contains a predicate that selects products whose weight is greater than 100. For any product that does not have a weight subelement, the value of the predicate is the empty sequence, and the product is not selected. This example assumes that weight is a validated element with a numeric type.

    //product[weight gt 100]
  • The following comparisons are true because, in each case, the two constructed nodes have the same value after atomization, even though they have different identities and/or names:

    <a>5</a> eq <a>5</a>
    <a>5</a> eq <b>5</b>
  • The following comparison is true if my:hatsize and my:shoesize are both user-defined types that are derived by restriction from a primitive numeric type:

    my:hatsize(5) eq my:shoesize(5)
  • The following comparison is true. The eq operator compares two QNames by performing codepoint-comparisons of their namespace URIs and their local names, ignoring their namespace prefixes.

    QName("http://example.com/ns1", "this:color") eq QName("http://example.com/ns1", "that:color")

4.11.2 General Comparisons

The general comparison operators are =, !=, <, <=, >, and >=. General comparisons are existentially quantified comparisons that may be applied to operand sequences of any length. The result of a general comparison that does not raise an error is always true or false.

A general comparison is evaluated by applying the following rules, in order:

  1. Atomization is applied to each operand. After atomization, each operand is a sequence of atomic values.

  2. The result of the comparison is true if and only if there is a pair of atomic values, one in the first operand sequence and the other in the second operand sequence, that have the required magnitude relationship. Otherwise the result of the comparison is false or an error. The magnitude relationship between two atomic values is determined by applying the following rules. If a cast operation called for by these rules is not successful, a dynamic error is raised. [err:FORG0001]FO31

    Note:

    The purpose of these rules is to preserve compatibility with XPath 1.0, in which (for example) x < 17 is a numeric comparison if x is an untyped value. Users should be aware that the value comparison operators have different rules for casting of xs:untypedAtomic operands.

    1. If both atomic values are instances of xs:untypedAtomic, then the values are cast to the type xs:string.

    2. If exactly one of the atomic values is an instance of xs:untypedAtomic, it is cast to a type depending on the other value’s dynamic type T according to the following rules, in which V denotes the value to be cast:

      1. If T is a numeric type or is derived from a numeric type, then V is cast to xs:double.

      2. If T is xs:dayTimeDuration or is derived from xs:dayTimeDuration, then V is cast to xs:dayTimeDuration.

      3. If T is xs:yearMonthDuration or is derived from xs:yearMonthDuration, then V is cast to xs:yearMonthDuration.

      4. In all other cases, V is cast to the primitive base type of T.

      Note:

      The special treatment of the duration types is required to avoid errors that may arise when comparing the primitive type xs:duration with any duration type.

    3. After performing the conversions described above, the atomic values are compared using one of the value comparison operators eq, ne, lt, le, gt, or ge, depending on whether the general comparison operator was =, !=, <, <=, >, or >=. The values have the required magnitude relationship if and only if the result of this value comparison is true.

When evaluating a general comparison in which either operand is a sequence of items, an implementation may return true as soon as it finds an item in the first operand and an item in the second operand that have the required magnitude relationship. Similarly, a general comparison may raise a dynamic error as soon as it encounters an error in evaluating either operand, or in comparing a pair of items from the two operands. As a result of these rules, the result of a general comparison is not deterministic in the presence of errors.

Here are some examples of general comparisons:

  • The following comparison is true if the typed value of any author subelement of $book1 is "Kennedy" as an instance of xs:string or xs:untypedAtomic:

    $book1/author = "Kennedy"
  • The following comparison is true because atomization converts an array to its member sequence:

    [ "Obama", "Nixon", "Kennedy" ] = "Kennedy"
  • The following example contains three general comparisons. The value of the first two comparisons is true, and the value of the third comparison is false. This example illustrates the fact that general comparisons are not transitive.

    (1, 2) = (2, 3)
    (2, 3) = (3, 4)
    (1, 2) = (3, 4)
  • The following example contains two general comparisons, both of which are true. This example illustrates the fact that the = and != operators are not inverses of each other.

    (1, 2) = (2, 3)
    (1, 2) != (2, 3)
  • Suppose that $a, $b, and $c are bound to element nodes with type annotation xs:untypedAtomic, with string values "1", "2", and "2.0" respectively. Then ($a, $b) = ($c, 3.0) returns false, because $b and $c are compared as strings. However, ($a, $b) = ($c, 2.0) returns true, because $b and 2.0 are compared as numbers.

4.11.3 Node Comparisons

Node comparisons are used to compare two nodes, by their identity or by their document order. The result of a node comparison is defined by the following rules:

  1. The operands of a node comparison are evaluated in implementation-dependent order.

  2. If either operand is an empty sequence, the result of the comparison is an empty sequence, and the implementation need not evaluate the other operand or apply the operator. However, an implementation may choose to evaluate the other operand in order to determine whether it raises an error.

  3. Each operand must be either a single node or an empty sequence; otherwise a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004].

  4. A comparison with the is operator is true if the two operand nodes are the same node; otherwise it is false. See [XQuery and XPath Data Model (XDM) 3.1] for the definition of node identity.

  5. A comparison with the << operator returns true if the left operand node precedes the right operand node in document order; otherwise it returns false.

  6. A comparison with the >> operator returns true if the left operand node follows the right operand node in document order; otherwise it returns false.

Here are some examples of node comparisons:

  • The following comparison is true only if the left and right sides each evaluate to exactly the same single node:

    /books/book[isbn="1558604820"] is /books/book[call="QA76.9 C3845"]
  • The following comparison is false because each constructed node has its own identity:

    <a>5</a> is <a>5</a>
  • The following comparison is true only if the node identified by the left side occurs before the node identified by the right side in document order:

    /transactions/purchase[parcel="28-451"] << /transactions/sale[parcel="33-870"]

4.12 Logical Expressions

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.

[104]    OrExpr    ::=    AndExpr ( "or" AndExpr )*
[105]    AndExpr    ::=    ComparisonExpr ( "and" ComparisonExpr )*

The first step in evaluating a logical expression is to find the effective boolean value of each of its operands (see 2.5.3 Effective Boolean Value).

The value of an and-expression is determined by the effective boolean values (EBVs) of its operands, as shown in the following table:

AND: EBV2 = true EBV2 = false error in EBV2
EBV1 = true true false error
EBV1 = false false false either false or error
error in EBV1 error either false or error error

The value of an or-expression is determined by the effective boolean values (EBVs) of its operands, as shown in the following table:

OR: EBV2 = true EBV2 = false error in EBV2
EBV1 = true true true either true or error
EBV1 = false true false error
error in EBV1 either true or error error error

The order in which the operands of a logical expression are evaluated is implementation-dependent. The tables above are defined in such a way that an or-expression can return true if the first expression evaluated is true, and it can raise an error if evaluation of the first expression raises an error. Similarly, an and-expression can return false if the first expression evaluated is false, and it can raise an error if evaluation of the first expression raises an error. As a result of these rules, a logical expression is not deterministic in the presence of errors, as illustrated in the examples below.

Here are some examples of logical expressions:

  • The following expressions return true:

    1 eq 1 and 2 eq 2
    1 eq 1 or 2 eq 3
  • The following expression may return either false or raise a dynamic error :

    1 eq 2 and 3 idiv 0 = 1
  • The following expression may return either true or raise a dynamic error :

    1 eq 1 or 3 idiv 0 = 1
  • The following expression must raise a dynamic error:

    1 eq 1 and 3 idiv 0 = 1

In addition to and- and or-expressions, XQuery 4.0 provides a function named fn:not that takes a general sequence as parameter and returns a boolean value. The fn:not function is defined in [XQuery and XPath Functions and Operators 4.0]. The fn:not function reduces its parameter to an effective boolean value. It then returns true if the effective boolean value of its parameter is false, and false if the effective boolean value of its parameter is true. If an error is encountered in finding the effective boolean value of its operand, fn:not raises the same error.

4.13 Node Constructors

XQuery provides node constructors that can create XML nodes within a query.

[175]    NodeConstructor    ::=    DirectConstructor
| ComputedConstructor
[176]    DirectConstructor    ::=    DirElemConstructor
| DirCommentConstructor
| DirPIConstructor
[177]    DirElemConstructor    ::=    "<" QName DirAttributeList ("/>" | (">" DirElemContent* "</" QName S? ">")) /* ws: explicit */
[182]    DirElemContent    ::=    DirectConstructor
| CDataSection
| CommonContent
| ElementContentChar
[276]    ElementContentChar    ::=    (Char - [{}<&])
[183]    CommonContent    ::=    PredefinedEntityRef | CharRef | "{{" | "}}" | EnclosedExpr
[188]    CDataSection    ::=    "<![CDATA[" CDataSectionContents "]]>" /* ws: explicit */
[189]    CDataSectionContents    ::=    (Char* - (Char* ']]>' Char*)) /* ws: explicit */
[178]    DirAttributeList    ::=    (S (QName S? "=" S? DirAttributeValue)?)* /* ws: explicit */
[179]    DirAttributeValue    ::=    ('"' (EscapeQuot | QuotAttrValueContent)* '"')
| ("'" (EscapeApos | AposAttrValueContent)* "'")
/* ws: explicit */
[180]    QuotAttrValueContent    ::=    QuotAttrContentChar
| CommonContent
[181]    AposAttrValueContent    ::=    AposAttrContentChar
| CommonContent
[277]    QuotAttrContentChar    ::=    (Char - ["{}<&])
[278]    AposAttrContentChar    ::=    (Char - ['{}<&])
[274]    EscapeQuot    ::=    '""' /* ws: explicit */
[275]    EscapeApos    ::=    "''" /* ws: explicit */
[41]    EnclosedExpr    ::=    "{" Expr? "}"

Constructors are provided for element, attribute, document, text, comment, and processing instruction nodes. Two kinds of constructors are provided: direct constructors, which use an XML-like notation that can incorporate enclosed expressions, and computed constructors, which use a notation based on enclosed expressions.

The rest of this section contains a conceptual description of the semantics of various kinds of constructor expressions. An XQuery implementation is free to use any implementation technique that produces the same result as the processing steps described here.

4.13.1 Direct Element Constructors

An element constructor creates an element node. [Definition: A direct element constructor is a form of element constructor in which the name of the constructed element is a constant.] Direct element constructors are based on standard XML notation. For example, the following expression is a direct element constructor that creates a book element containing an attribute and some nested elements:

<book isbn="isbn-0060229357">
    <title>Harold and the Purple Crayon</title>
    <author>
        <first>Crockett</first>
        <last>Johnson</last>
    </author>
</book>

If the element name in a direct element constructor has a namespace prefix, the namespace prefix is resolved to a namespace URI using the statically known namespaces. If the element name has no namespace prefix, it is interpreted according to the default namespace for elements and types.

Note:

Both the statically known namespaces and the default namespace for elements and types may be affected by namespace declaration attributes found inside the element constructor.

The namespace prefix of the element name is retained after expansion of the lexical QName, as described in [XQuery and XPath Data Model (XDM) 3.1]. The resulting expanded QName becomes the node-name property of the constructed element node.

In a direct element constructor, the name used in the end tag must exactly match the name used in the corresponding start tag, including its prefix or absence of a prefix [err:XQST0118].

In a direct element constructor, curly braces { } delimit enclosed expressions, distinguishing them from literal text. Enclosed expressions are evaluated and replaced by their value, as illustrated by the following example:

<example>
   <p> Here is a query. </p>
   <eg> $b/title </eg>
   <p> Here is the result of the query. </p>
   <eg>{ $b/title }</eg>
</example>

The above query might generate the following result (whitespace has been added for readability to this result and other result examples in this document):

<example>
  <p> Here is a query. </p>
  <eg> $b/title </eg>
  <p> Here is the result of the query. </p>
  <eg><title>Harold and the Purple Crayon</title></eg>
</example>

Since XQuery uses curly braces to denote enclosed expressions, some convention is needed to denote a curly brace used as an ordinary character. For this purpose, a pair of identical curly brace characters within the content of an element or attribute are interpreted by XQuery as a single curly brace character (that is, the pair "{{" represents the character { and the pair "}}" represents the character }.) Alternatively, the character references &#x7b; and &#x7d; can be used to denote curly brace characters. A single left curly brace ({) is interpreted as the beginning delimiter for an enclosed expression. A single right curly brace (}) without a matching left curly brace is treated as a static error [err:XPST0003].

The result of an element constructor is a new element node, with its own node identity. All the attribute and descendant nodes of the new element node are also new nodes with their own identities, even if they are copies of existing nodes.

4.13.1.1 Attributes

The start tag of a direct element constructor may contain one or more attributes. As in XML, each attribute is specified by a name and a value. In a direct element constructor, the name of each attribute is specified by a constant lexical QName, and the value of the attribute is specified by a string of characters enclosed in single or double quotes. As in the main content of the element constructor, an attribute value may contain enclosed expressions, which are evaluated and replaced by their value during processing of the element constructor.

Each attribute in a direct element constructor creates a new attribute node, with its own node identity, whose parent is the constructed element node. However, note that namespace declaration attributes (see 4.13.1.2 Namespace Declaration Attributes) do not create attribute nodes.

If an attribute name has a namespace prefix, the prefix is resolved to a namespace URI using the statically known namespaces. If the attribute name has no namespace prefix, the attribute is in no namespace. Note that the statically known namespaces used in resolving an attribute name may be affected by namespace declaration attributes that are found inside the same element constructor. The namespace prefix of the attribute name is retained after expansion of the lexical QName, as described in [XQuery and XPath Data Model (XDM) 3.1]. The resulting expanded QName becomes the node-name property of the constructed attribute node.

If the attributes in a direct element constructor do not have distinct expanded QNames as their respective node-name properties, a static error is raised [err:XQST0040].

Conceptually, an attribute (other than a namespace declaration attribute) in a direct element constructor is processed by the following steps:

  1. Each consecutive sequence of literal characters in the attribute content is processed as a string literal containing those characters, with the following exceptions:

    1. Each occurrence of two consecutive { characters is replaced by a single { character.

    2. Each occurrence of two consecutive } characters is replaced by a single } character.

    3. Each occurrence of EscapeQuot is replaced by a single " character.

    4. Each occurrence of EscapeApos is replaced by a single ' character.

    Attribute value normalization is then applied to normalize whitespace and expand character references and predefined entity references. The rules for attribute value normalization are the rules from Section 3.3.3 of [XML 1.0] or Section 3.3.3 of [XML 1.1] (it is implementation-defined which version is used). The rules are applied as though the type of the attribute were CDATA (leading and trailing whitespace characters are not stripped.)

  2. Each enclosed expression is converted to a string as follows:

    1. Atomization is applied to the value of the enclosed expression, converting it to a sequence of atomic values.

    2. If the result of atomization is an empty sequence, the result is the zero-length string. Otherwise, each atomic value in the atomized sequence is cast into a string.

    3. The individual strings resulting from the previous step are merged into a single string by concatenating them with a single space character between each pair.

  3. Adjacent strings resulting from the above steps are concatenated with no intervening blanks. The resulting string becomes the string-value property of the attribute node. The attribute node is given a type annotation of xs:untypedAtomic (this type annotation may change if the parent element is validated). The typed-value property of the attribute node is the same as its string-value, as an instance of xs:untypedAtomic.

  4. The parent property of the attribute node is set to the element node constructed by the direct element constructor that contains this attribute.

  5. If the attribute name is xml:id, then xml:id processing is performed as defined in [XML ID]. This ensures that the attribute has the type xs:ID and that its value is properly normalized. If an error is encountered during xml:id processing, an implementation may raise a dynamic error [err:XQDY0091].

  6. If the attribute name is xml:id, the is-id property of the resulting attribute node is set to true; otherwise the is-id property is set to false. The is-idrefs property of the attribute node is unconditionally set to false.

  • Example:

    <shoe size="7"/>

    The string value of the size attribute is "7".

  • Example:

    <shoe size="{7}"/>

    The string value of the size attribute is "7".

  • Example:

    <shoe size="{()}"/>

    The string value of the size attribute is the zero-length string.

  • Example:

    <chapter ref="[{1, 5 to 7, 9}]"/>

    The string value of the ref attribute is "[1 5 6 7 9]".

  • Example:

    <shoe size="As big as {$hat/@size}"/>

    The string value of the size attribute is the string "As big as ", concatenated with the string value of the node denoted by the expression $hat/@size.

4.13.1.2 Namespace Declaration Attributes

The names of a constructed element and its attributes may be lexical QNames that include namespace prefixes. Namespace prefixes can be bound to namespaces in the Prolog or by namespace declaration attributes. It is a static error to use a namespace prefix that has not been bound to a namespace [err:XPST0081].

[Definition: 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.] Syntactically, a namespace declaration attribute has the form of an attribute with namespace prefix xmlns, or with name xmlns and no namespace prefix. All the namespace declaration attributes of a given element must have distinct names [err:XQST0071]. Each namespace declaration attribute is processed as follows:

  • The value of the namespace declaration attribute (a DirAttributeValue) is processed as follows. If the DirAttributeValue contains an EnclosedExpr, a static error is raised [err:XQST0022]. Otherwise, it is processed as described in rule 1 of 4.13.1.1 Attributes. An implementation may raise a static error [err:XQST0046] if the resulting value is of nonzero length and is neither an absolute URI nor a relative URI. The resulting value is used as the namespace URI in the following rules.

  • If the prefix of the attribute name is xmlns, then the local part of the attribute name is interpreted as a namespace prefix. This prefix and the namespace URI are added to the statically known namespaces of the constructor expression (overriding any existing binding of the given prefix), and are also added as a namespace binding to the in-scope namespaces of the constructed element. If the namespace URI is a zero-length string and the implementation supports [XML Names 1.1], any existing namespace binding for the given prefix is removed from the in-scope namespaces of the constructed element and from the statically known namespaces of the constructor expression. If the namespace URI is a zero-length string and the implementation does not support [XML Names 1.1], a static error is raised [err:XQST0085]. It is implementation-defined whether an implementation supports [XML Names] or [XML Names 1.1].

  • If the name of the namespace declaration attribute is xmlns with no prefix, then the namespace URI specifies the default namespace for elements and types of the constructor expression (overriding any existing default), and is added (with no prefix) to the in-scope namespaces of the constructed element (overriding any existing binding of the zero-length prefix).

    If the namespace URI is a zero-length string then the default namespace for elements and types of the constructor expression is set to absentDM31, and any no-prefix namespace binding is removed from the in-scope namespaces of the constructed element.

  • It is a static error [err:XQST0070] if a namespace declaration attribute attempts to do any of the following:

    • Bind the prefix xml to some namespace URI other than http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace.

    • Bind a prefix other than xml to the namespace URI http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace.

    • Bind the prefix xmlns to any namespace URI.

    • Bind a prefix to the namespace URI http://www.w3.org/2000/xmlns/.

A namespace declaration attribute does not cause an attribute node to be created.

The following examples illustrate namespace declaration attributes:

  • In this element constructor, a namespace declaration attribute is used to set the default namespace for elements and types to http://example.org/animals:

    <cat xmlns="http://example.org/animals">
      <breed>Persian</breed>
    </cat>
  • In this element constructor, namespace declaration attributes are used to bind the namespace prefixes metric and english:

    <box xmlns:metric = "http://example.org/metric/units"
         xmlns:english = "http://example.org/english/units">
      <height> <metric:meters>3</metric:meters> </height>
      <width> <english:feet>6</english:feet> </width>
      <depth> <english:inches>18</english:inches> </depth>
    </box>
4.13.1.3 Content

The part of a direct element constructor between the start tag and the end tag is called the content of the element constructor. This content may consist of text characters (parsed as ElementContentChar), nested direct constructors, CDataSections, character and predefined entity references, and enclosed expressions. In general, the value of an enclosed expression may be any sequence of nodes and/or atomic values. Enclosed expressions can be used in the content of an element constructor to compute both the content and the attributes of the constructed node.

Conceptually, the content of an element constructor is processed as follows:

  1. The content is evaluated to produce a sequence of nodes called the content sequence, as follows:

    1. If the boundary-space policy in the static context is strip, boundary whitespace is identified and deleted (see 4.13.1.4 Boundary Whitespace for the definition of boundary whitespace.)

    2. Predefined entity references and character references are expanded into their referenced strings, as described in 4.3.1 Literals. Characters inside a CDataSection, including special characters such as < and &, are treated as literal characters rather than as markup characters (except for the sequence ]]>, which terminates the CDataSection).

    3. Each consecutive sequence of literal characters evaluates to a single text node containing the characters.

    4. Each nested direct constructor is evaluated according to the rules in 4.13.1 Direct Element Constructors or 4.13.2 Other Direct Constructors, resulting in a new element, comment, or processing instruction node. Then:

      1. The parent property of the resulting node is then set to the newly constructed element node.

      2. The base-uri property of the resulting node, and of each of its descendants, is set to be the same as that of its new parent, unless it (the child node) has an xml:base attribute, in which case its base-uri property is set to the value of that attribute, resolved (if it is relative) against the base-uri property of its new parent node.

    5. Enclosed expressions are evaluated as follows:

      1. Each array returned by the enclosed expression is flattened by calling the function array:flatten() before the steps that follow.

      2. If an enclosed expression returns a function item, a type error is raised [err:XQTY0105].

      3. For each adjacent sequence of one or more atomic values returned by an enclosed expression, a new text node is constructed, containing the result of casting each atomic value to a string, with a single space character inserted between adjacent values.

        Note:

        The insertion of blank characters between adjacent values applies even if one or both of the values is a zero-length string.

      4. For each node returned by an enclosed expression, a new copy is made of the given node and all nodes that have the given node as an ancestor, collectively referred to as copied nodes. The properties of the copied nodes are as follows:

        1. Each copied node receives a new node identity.

        2. The parent, children, and attributes properties of the copied nodes are set so as to preserve their inter-node relationships. For the topmost node (the node directly returned by the enclosed expression), the parent property is set to the node constructed by this constructor.

        3. If construction mode in the static context is strip:

          1. If the copied node is an element node, its type annotation is set to xs:untyped. Its nilled, is-id, and is-idrefs properties are set to false.

          2. If the copied node is an attribute node, its type-name property is set to xs:untypedAtomic. Its is-idrefs property is set to false. Its is-id property is set to true if the qualified name of the attribute node is xml:id; otherwise it is set to false.

          3. The string-value of each copied element and attribute node remains unchanged, and its typed-value becomes equal to its string-value as an instance of xs:untypedAtomic.

            Note:

            Implementations that store only the typed value of a node are required at this point to convert the typed value to a string form.

          On the other hand, if construction mode in the static context is preserve, the type-name, nilled, string-value, typed-value, is-id, and is-idrefs properties of the copied nodes are preserved.

        4. The in-scope-namespaces property of a copied element node is determined by the following rules. In applying these rules, the default namespace or absence of a default namespace is treated like any other namespace binding:

          1. If copy-namespaces mode specifies preserve, all in-scope-namespaces of the original element are retained in the new copy. If copy-namespaces mode specifies no-preserve, the new copy retains only those in-scope namespaces of the original element that are used in the names of the element and its attributes.

          2. If copy-namespaces mode specifies inherit, the copied node inherits all the in-scope namespaces of the constructed node, augmented and overridden by the in-scope namespaces of the original element that were preserved by the preceding rule. If copy-namespaces mode specifies no-inherit, the copied node does not inherit any in-scope namespaces from the constructed node.

        5. An enclosed expression in the content of an element constructor may cause one or more existing nodes to be copied. Type error [err:XQTY0086] is raised in the following cases:

          1. An element node is copied, and the typed value of the element node or one of its attributes is namespace-sensitive, and construction mode is preserve, and copy-namespaces mode is no-preserve.

          2. An attribute node is copied but its parent element node is not copied, and the typed value of the copied attribute node is namespace-sensitive, and construction mode is preserve.

          Note:

          The rationale for error [err:XQTY0086] is as follows: It is not possible to preserve the type of a QName without also preserving the namespace binding that defines the prefix of the QName.

        6. When an element or processing instruction node is copied, its base-uri property is set to be the same as that of its new parent, with the following exception: if a copied element node has an xml:base attribute, its base-uri property is set to the value of that attribute, resolved (if it is relative) against the base-uri property of the new parent node.

        7. All other properties of the copied nodes are preserved.

  2. If the content sequence contains a document node, the document node is replaced in the content sequence by its children.

  3. Adjacent text nodes in the content sequence are merged into a single text node by concatenating their contents, with no intervening blanks. After concatenation, any text node whose content is a zero-length string is deleted from the content sequence.

  4. If the content sequence contains an attribute node or a namespace node following a node that is not an attribute node or a namespace node, a type error is raised [err:XQTY0024].

  5. The properties of the newly constructed element node are determined as follows:

    1. node-name is the expanded QName resulting from resolving the element name in the start tag, including its original namespace prefix (if any), as described in 4.13.1 Direct Element Constructors.

    2. parent is set to empty.

    3. attributes consist of all the attributes specified in the start tag as described in 4.13.1.1 Attributes, together with all the attribute nodes in the content sequence, in implementation-dependent order. Note that the parent property of each of these attribute nodes has been set to the newly constructed element node. If two or more attributes have the same node-name, a dynamic error is raised [err:XQDY0025]. If an attribute named xml:space has a value other than preserve or default, a dynamic error may be raised [err:XQDY0092].

    4. children consist of all the element, text, comment, and processing instruction nodes in the content sequence. Note that the parent property of each of these nodes has been set to the newly constructed element node.

    5. base-uri is set to the following value:

      1. If the constructed node has an attribute named xml:base, then the value of this attribute, resolved (if it is relative) against the Executable Base URI , as described in 2.5.6 Resolving a Relative URI Reference.

      2. Otherwise, the Executable Base URI .

    6. in-scope-namespaces consist of all the namespace bindings resulting from namespace declaration attributes as described in 4.13.1.2 Namespace Declaration Attributes, and possibly additional namespace bindings as described in 4.13.4 In-scope Namespaces of a Constructed Element.

    7. The nilled property is false.

    8. The string-value property is equal to the concatenated contents of the text-node descendants in document order. If there are no text-node descendants, the string-value property is a zero-length string.

    9. The typed-value property is equal to the string-value property, as an instance of xs:untypedAtomic.

    10. If construction mode in the static context is strip, the type-name property is xs:untyped. On the other hand, if construction mode is preserve, the type-name property is xs:anyType.

    11. The is-id and is-idrefs properties are set to false.

  • Example:

    <a>{1}</a>

    The constructed element node has one child, a text node containing the value "1".

  • Example:

    <a>{1, 2, 3}</a>

    The constructed element node has one child, a text node containing the value "1 2 3".

  • Example:

    <c>{1}{2}{3}</c>

    The constructed element node has one child, a text node containing the value "123".

  • Example:

    <b>{1, "2", "3"}</b>

    The constructed element node has one child, a text node containing the value "1 2 3".

  • Example:

    <fact>I saw 8 cats.</fact>

    The constructed element node has one child, a text node containing the value "I saw 8 cats.".

  • Example:

    <fact>I saw {5 + 3} cats.</fact>

    The constructed element node has one child, a text node containing the value "I saw 8 cats.".

  • Example:

    <fact>I saw <howmany>{5 + 3}</howmany> cats.</fact>

    The constructed element node has three children: a text node containing "I saw ", a child element node named howmany, and a text node containing " cats.". The child element node in turn has a single text node child containing the value "8".

4.13.1.4 Boundary Whitespace

In a direct element constructor, whitespace characters may appear in the content of the constructed element. In some cases, enclosed expressions and/or nested elements may be separated only by whitespace characters. For example, in the expression below, the end-tag </title> and the start-tag <author> are separated by a newline character and four space characters:

<book isbn="isbn-0060229357">
    <title>Harold and the Purple Crayon</title>
    <author>
        <first>Crockett</first>
        <last>Johnson</last>
    </author>
</book>

[Definition: 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 &#x20; or by CDataSections are not considered to be whitespace characters.]

The boundary-space policy in the static context controls whether boundary whitespace is preserved by element constructors. If boundary-space policy is strip, boundary whitespace is not considered significant and is discarded. On the other hand, if boundary-space policy is preserve, boundary whitespace is considered significant and is preserved.

  • Example:

    <cat>
       <breed>{$b}</breed>
       <color>{$c}</color>
    </cat>

    The constructed cat element node has two child element nodes named breed and color. Whitespace surrounding the child elements will be stripped away by the element constructor if boundary-space policy is strip.

  • Example:

    <a>  {"abc"}  </a>

    If boundary-space policy is strip, this example is equivalent to <a>abc</a>. However, if boundary-space policy is preserve, this example is equivalent to <a>  abc  </a>.

  • Example:

    <a> z {"abc"}</a>

    Since the whitespace surrounding the z is not boundary whitespace, it is always preserved. This example is equivalent to <a> z abc</a>.

  • Example:

    <a>&#x20;{"abc"}</a>

    This example is equivalent to <a> abc</a>, regardless of the boundary-space policy, because the space generated by the character reference is not treated as a whitespace character.

  • Example:

    <a>{"  "}</a>

    This example constructs an element containing two space characters, regardless of the boundary-space policy, because whitespace inside an enclosed expression is never considered to be boundary whitespace.

  • Example:

    <a>{ [ "one", "little", "fish" ] }</a>

    This example constructs an element containing the text one little fish, because the array is flattened, and the resulting sequence of atomic values is converted to a text node with a single blank between values.

Note:

Element constructors treat attributes named xml:space as ordinary attributes. An xml:space attribute does not affect the handling of whitespace by an element constructor.

4.13.2 Other Direct Constructors

XQuery allows an expression to generate a processing instruction node or a comment node. This can be accomplished by using a direct processing instruction constructor or a direct comment constructor. In each case, the syntax of the constructor expression is based on the syntax of a similar construct in XML.

[186]    DirPIConstructor    ::=    "<?" PITarget (S DirPIContents)? "?>" /* ws: explicit */
[187]    DirPIContents    ::=    (Char* - (Char* '?>' Char*)) /* ws: explicit */
[184]    DirCommentConstructor    ::=    "<!--" DirCommentContents "-->" /* ws: explicit */
[185]    DirCommentContents    ::=    ((Char - '-') | ('-' (Char - '-')))* /* ws: explicit */

A direct processing instruction constructor creates a processing instruction node whose target property is PITarget and whose content property is DirPIContents. The base-uri property of the node is empty. The parent property of the node is empty.

The PITarget of a processing instruction must not consist of the characters XML in any combination of upper and lower case, and must not contain a colon. The DirPIContents of a processing instruction must not contain the string "?>".

The following example illustrates a direct processing instruction constructor:

<?format role="output" ?>

A direct comment constructor creates a comment node whose content property is DirCommentContents. Its parent property is empty.

The DirCommentContents of a comment must not contain two consecutive hyphens or end with a hyphen. These rules are syntactically enforced by the grammar shown above.

The following example illustrates a direct comment constructor:

<!-- Tags are ignored in the following section -->

Note:

A direct comment constructor is different from a comment, since a direct comment constructor actually constructs a comment node, whereas a comment is simply used in documenting a query and is not evaluated.

4.13.3 Computed Constructors

[190]    ComputedConstructor    ::=    CompDocConstructor
| CompElemConstructor
| CompAttrConstructor
| CompNamespaceConstructor
| CompTextConstructor
| CompCommentConstructor
| CompPIConstructor

An alternative way to create nodes is by using a computed constructor. A computed constructor begins with a keyword that identifies the type of node to be created: element, attribute, document, text, processing-instruction, comment, or namespace.

For those kinds of nodes that have names (element, attribute, and processing instruction nodes), the keyword that specifies the node kind is followed by the name of the node to be created. This name may be specified either as an EQName or as an expression enclosed in braces. [Definition: When an expression is used to specify the name of a constructed node, that expression is called the name expression of the constructor.]

The following example illustrates the use of computed element and attribute constructors in a simple case where the names of the constructed nodes are constants. This example generates exactly the same result as the first example in 4.13.1 Direct Element Constructors:

element book {
   attribute isbn {"isbn-0060229357" },
   element title { "Harold and the Purple Crayon"},
   element author {
      element first { "Crockett" },
      element last {"Johnson" }
   }
}
4.13.3.1 Computed Element Constructors
[192]    CompElemConstructor    ::=    "element" (EQName | ("{" Expr "}")) EnclosedContentExpr
[264]    EQName    ::=    QName | URIQualifiedName
[193]    EnclosedContentExpr    ::=    EnclosedExpr
[41]    EnclosedExpr    ::=    "{" Expr? "}"

[Definition: A computed element constructor creates an element node, allowing both the name and the content of the node to be computed.]

If the keyword element is followed by an EQName, it is expanded to an expanded QName as follows: if the EQName has a BracedURILiteral it is expanded using the specified URI; if the EQName is a lexical QName with a namespace prefix it is expanded using the statically known namespaces; if the EQName is a lexical QName without a prefix it is implicitly qualified by the namespace URI that is bound to the zero-length prefix in the statically known namespaces; if there is no such binding, the expanded name will be in no namespace. . The resulting expanded QName is used as the node-name property of the constructed element node. If expansion of the QName is not successful, a static error is raised [err:XPST0081].

If the keyword element is followed by a name expression, the name expression is processed as follows:

  1. Atomization is applied to the value of the name expression. If the result of atomization is not a single atomic value of type xs:QName, xs:string, or xs:untypedAtomic, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004].

  2. If the atomized value of the name expression is of type xs:QName, that expanded QName is used as the node-name property of the constructed element, retaining the prefix part of the QName.

  3. If the atomized value of the name expression is of type xs:string or xs:untypedAtomic, that value is converted to an expanded QName as follows:

    1. Leading and trailing whitespace is removed.

    2. If the value is an unprefixed NCName, it is interpreted according to the default namespace for elements and types.

    3. If the value is a lexical QName with a prefix, that prefix is resolved to a namespace URI using the statically known namespaces.

    4. If the value is a URI-qualified name (Q{uri}local), it is converted to an expanded QName with the supplied namespace URI and local name, and with no prefix.

    Note:

    This was under-specified in XQuery 3.1.

    The resulting expanded QName is used as the node-name property of the constructed element, retaining the prefix part of the QName (or its absence). If conversion of the atomized name expression to an expanded QName is not successful, a dynamic error is raised [err:XQDY0074].

A dynamic error is raised [err:XQDY0096] if the node-name of the constructed element node has any of the following properties:

  • Its namespace prefix is xmlns.

  • Its namespace URI is http://www.w3.org/2000/xmlns/.

  • Its namespace prefix is xml and its namespace URI is not http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace.

  • Its namespace prefix is other than xml and its namespace URI is http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace.

The content expression of a computed element constructor (if present) is processed in exactly the same way as an enclosed expression in the content of a direct element constructor, as described in Step 1e of 4.13.1.3 Content. The result of processing the content expression is a sequence of nodes called the content sequence. If the content expression is absent, the content sequence is an empty sequence.

Processing of the computed element constructor proceeds as follows:

  1. If the content sequence contains a document node, the document node is replaced in the content sequence by its children.

  2. Adjacent text nodes in the content sequence are merged into a single text node by concatenating their contents, with no intervening blanks. After concatenation, any text node whose content is a zero-length string is deleted from the content sequence.

  3. If the content sequence contains an attribute node or a namespace node following a node that is not an attribute node or a namespace node, a type error is raised [err:XQTY0024].

  4. The properties of the newly constructed element node are determined as follows:

    1. node-name is the expanded QName resulting from processing the specified lexical QName or name expression, as described above.

    2. parent is empty.

    3. attributes consist of all the attribute nodes in the content sequence, in implementation-dependent order. Note that the parent property of each of these attribute nodes has been set to the newly constructed element node. If two or more attributes have the same node-name, a dynamic error is raised [err:XQDY0025]. If an attribute named xml:space has a value other than preserve or default, a dynamic error may be raised [err:XQDY0092].

    4. children consist of all the element, text, comment, and processing instruction nodes in the content sequence. Note that the parent property of each of these nodes has been set to the newly constructed element node.

    5. base-uri is set to the following value:

      1. If the constructed node has an attribute named xml:base, then the value of this attribute, resolved (if it is relative) against the Executable Base URI , as described in 2.5.6 Resolving a Relative URI Reference.

      2. Otherwise, the Executable Base URI .

    6. in-scope-namespaces are computed as described in 4.13.4 In-scope Namespaces of a Constructed Element.

    7. The nilled property is false.

    8. The string-value property is equal to the concatenated contents of the text-node descendants in document order.

    9. The typed-value property is equal to the string-value property, as an instance of xs:untypedAtomic.

    10. If construction mode in the static context is strip, the type-name property is xs:untyped. On the other hand, if construction mode is preserve, the type-name property is xs:anyType.

    11. The is-id and is-idrefs properties are set to false.

A computed element constructor might be used to make a modified copy of an existing element. For example, if the variable $e is bound to an element with numeric content, the following constructor might be used to create a new element with the same name and attributes as $e and with numeric content equal to twice the value of $e:

element {node-name($e)}
   {$e/@*, 2 * data($e)}

In this example, if $e is bound by the expression let $e := <length units="inches">{5}</length>, then the result of the example expression is the element <length units="inches">10</length>.

Note:

The static type of the expression fn:node-name($e) is xs:QName?, denoting zero or one QName. Therefore, if the Static Typing Feature is in effect, the above example raises a static type error, since the name expression in a computed element constructor is required to return exactly one string or QName. In order to avoid the static type error, the name expression fn:node-name($e) could be rewritten as fn:exactly-one(fn:node-name($e)). If the Static Typing Feature is not in effect, the example can be successfully evaluated as written, provided that $e is bound to exactly one element node with numeric content.

One important purpose of computed constructors is to allow the name of a node to be computed. We will illustrate this feature by an expression that translates the name of an element from one language to another. Suppose that the variable $dict is bound to a dictionary element containing a sequence of entry elements, each of which encodes translations for a specific word. Here is an example entry that encodes the German and Italian variants of the word “address”:

<entry word="address">
   <variant xml:lang="de">Adresse</variant>
   <variant xml:lang="it">indirizzo</variant>
</entry>

Suppose further that the variable $e is bound to the following element:

<address>123 Roosevelt Ave. Flushing, NY 11368</address>

Then the following expression generates a new element in which the name of $e has been translated into Italian and the content of $e (including its attributes, if any) has been preserved. The first enclosed expression after the element keyword generates the name of the element, and the second enclosed expression generates the content and attributes:

  element
    {$dict/entry[@word=name($e)]/variant[@xml:lang="it"]}
    {$e/@*, $e/node()}

The result of this expression is as follows:

<indirizzo>123 Roosevelt Ave. Flushing, NY 11368</indirizzo>

Note:

As in the previous example, if the Static Typing Feature is in effect, the enclosed expression that computes the element name in the above computed element constructor must be wrapped in a call to the fn:exactly-one function in order to avoid a static type error.

Additional examples of computed element constructors can be found in I.3 Recursive Transformations.

4.13.3.2 Computed Attribute Constructors
[194]    CompAttrConstructor    ::=    "attribute" (EQName | ("{" Expr "}")) EnclosedExpr
[264]    EQName    ::=    QName | URIQualifiedName
[41]    EnclosedExpr    ::=    "{" Expr? "}"

A computed attribute constructor creates a new attribute node, with its own node identity.

Attributes have no default namespace. The rules that expand attribute names create an implementation-dependent prefix if an attribute name has a namespace URI but no prefix is provided.

If the keyword attribute is followed by an EQName, it is expanded to an expanded QName as follows:

The resulting expanded QName (including its prefix) is used as the node-name property of the constructed attribute node. If expansion of the QName is not successful, a static error is raised [err:XPST0081].

If the keyword attribute is followed by a name expression, the name expression is processed as follows:

  1. Atomization is applied to the result of the name expression. If the result of atomization is not a single atomic value of type xs:QName, xs:string, or xs:untypedAtomic, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004].

  2. If the atomized value of the name expression is of type xs:QName:

    1. If the expanded QName returned by the atomized name expression has a namespace URI but has no prefix, it is given an implementation-dependent prefix.

    2. The resulting expanded QName (including its prefix) is used as the node-name property of the constructed attribute node.

  3. If the atomized value of the name expression is of type xs:string or xs:untypedAtomic, that value is converted to an expanded QName as follows:

    1. Leading and trailing whitespace is removed.

    2. If the value is an unprefixed NCName, it is treated as a local name in no namespace.

    3. If the value is a lexical QName with a prefix, that prefix is resolved to a namespace URI using the statically known namespaces.

    4. If the value is a URI-qualified name (Q{uri}local), it is converted to an expanded QName with the supplied namespace URI and local name, and with an implementation dependent prefix.

    Note:

    This was under-specified in XQuery 3.1.

    The resulting expanded QName (including its prefix) is used as the node-name property of the constructed attribute. If conversion of the atomized name expression to an expanded QName is not successful, a dynamic error is raised [err:XQDY0074].

A dynamic error is raised [err:XQDY0044] if the node-name of the constructed attribute node has any of the following properties:

  • Its namespace prefix is xmlns.

  • It has no namespace prefix and its local name is xmlns.

  • Its namespace URI is http://www.w3.org/2000/xmlns/.

  • Its namespace prefix is xml and its namespace URI is not http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace.

  • Its namespace prefix is other than xml and its namespace URI is http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace.

The content expression of a computed attribute constructor is processed as follows:

  1. Atomization is applied to the result of the content expression, converting it to a sequence of atomic values. (If the content expression is absent, the result of this step is an empty sequence.)

  2. If the result of atomization is an empty sequence, the value of the attribute is the zero-length string. Otherwise, each atomic value in the atomized sequence is cast into a string.

  3. The individual strings resulting from the previous step are merged into a single string by concatenating them with a single space character between each pair. The resulting string becomes the string-value property of the new attribute node. The type annotation (type-name property) of the new attribute node is xs:untypedAtomic. The typed-value property of the attribute node is the same as its string-value, as an instance of xs:untypedAtomic.

  4. The parent property of the attribute node is set to empty.

  5. If the attribute name is xml:id, then xml:id processing is performed as defined in [XML ID]. This ensures that the attribute node has the type xs:ID and that its value is properly normalized. If an error is encountered during xml:id processing, an implementation may raise a dynamic error [err:XQDY0091].

  6. If the attribute name is xml:id, the is-id property of the resulting attribute node is set to true; otherwise the is-id property is set to false. The is-idrefs property of the attribute node is unconditionally set to false.

  7. If the attribute name is xml:space and the attribute value is other than preserve or default, a dynamic error may be raised [err:XQDY0092].

  • Example:

    attribute size {4 + 3}

    The string value of the size attribute is "7" and its type is xs:untypedAtomic.

  • Example:

    attribute
       { if ($sex = "M") then "husband" else "wife" }
       { <a>Hello</a>, 1 to 3, <b>Goodbye</b> }

    The name of the constructed attribute is either husband or wife. Its string value is "Hello 1 2 3 Goodbye".

4.13.3.3 Document Node Constructors
[191]    CompDocConstructor    ::=    "document" EnclosedExpr
[41]    EnclosedExpr    ::=    "{" Expr? "}"

All document node constructors are computed constructors. The result of a document node constructor is a new document node, with its own node identity.

A document node constructor is useful when the result of a query is to be a document in its own right. The following example illustrates a query that returns an XML document containing a root element named author-list:

document
  {
      <author-list>
         {doc("bib.xml")/bib/book/author}
      </author-list>
  }

The content expression of a document node constructor is processed in exactly the same way as an enclosed expression in the content of a direct element constructor, as described in Step 1e of 4.13.1.3 Content. The result of processing the content expression is a sequence of nodes called the content sequence. Processing of the document node constructor then proceeds as follows:

  1. If the content sequence contains a document node, the document node is replaced in the content sequence by its children.

  2. Adjacent text nodes in the content sequence are merged into a single text node by concatenating their contents, with no intervening blanks. After concatenation, any text node whose content is a zero-length string is deleted from the content sequence.

  3. If the content sequence contains an attribute node, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004].

  4. If the content sequence contains a namespace node, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004].

  5. The properties of the newly constructed document node are determined as follows:

    1. base-uri is set to the Executable Base URI .

    2. children consist of all the element, text, comment, and processing instruction nodes in the content sequence. Note that the parent property of each of these nodes has been set to the newly constructed document node.

    3. The unparsed-entities and document-uri properties are empty.

    4. The string-value property is equal to the concatenated contents of the text-node descendants in document order.

    5. The typed-value property is equal to the string-value property, as an instance of xs:untypedAtomic.

No validation is performed on the constructed document node. The [XML 1.0] rules that govern the structure of an XML document (for example, the document node must have exactly one child that is an element node) are not enforced by the XQuery document node constructor.

4.13.3.4 Text Node Constructors
[199]    CompTextConstructor    ::=    "text" EnclosedExpr
[41]    EnclosedExpr    ::=    "{" Expr? "}"

All text node constructors are computed constructors. The result of a text node constructor is a new text node, with its own node identity.

The content expression of a text node constructor is processed as follows:

  1. Atomization is applied to the value of the content expression, converting it to a sequence of atomic values.

  2. If the result of atomization is an empty sequence, no text node is constructed. Otherwise, each atomic value in the atomized sequence is cast into a string.

  3. The individual strings resulting from the previous step are merged into a single string by concatenating them with a single space character between each pair. The resulting string becomes the content property of the constructed text node.

The parent property of the constructed text node is set to empty.

Note:

It is possible for a text node constructor to construct a text node containing a zero-length string. However, if used in the content of a constructed element or document node, such a text node will be deleted or merged with another text node.

The following example illustrates a text node constructor:

text {"Hello"}
4.13.3.5 Computed Processing Instruction Constructors
[201]    CompPIConstructor    ::=    "processing-instruction" (NCName | ("{" Expr "}")) EnclosedExpr
[41]    EnclosedExpr    ::=    "{" Expr? "}"

A computed processing instruction constructor (CompPIConstructor) constructs a new processing instruction node with its own node identity.

If the keyword processing-instruction is followed by an NCName, that NCName is used as the target property of the constructed node. If the keyword processing-instruction is followed by a name expression, the name expression is processed as follows:

  1. Atomization is applied to the value of the name expression. If the result of atomization is not a single atomic value of type xs:NCName, xs:string, or xs:untypedAtomic, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004].

  2. If the atomized value of the name expression is of type xs:string or xs:untypedAtomic, that value is cast to the type xs:NCName. If the value cannot be cast to xs:NCName, a dynamic error is raised [err:XQDY0041].

  3. The resulting NCName is then used as the target property of the newly constructed processing instruction node. However, a dynamic error is raised if the NCName is equal to "XML" (in any combination of upper and lower case) [err:XQDY0064].

The content expression of a computed processing instruction constructor is processed as follows:

  1. Atomization is applied to the value of the content expression, converting it to a sequence of atomic values. (If the content expression is absent, the result of this step is an empty sequence.)

  2. If the result of atomization is an empty sequence, it is replaced by a zero-length string. Otherwise, each atomic value in the atomized sequence is cast into a string. If any of the resulting strings contains the string "?>", a dynamic error [err:XQDY0026] is raised.

  3. The individual strings resulting from the previous step are merged into a single string by concatenating them with a single space character between each pair. Leading whitespace is removed from the resulting string. The resulting string then becomes the content property of the constructed processing instruction node.

The remaining properties of the new processing instruction node are determined as follows:

  1. The parent property is empty.

  2. The base-uri property is empty.

The following example illustrates a computed processing instruction constructor:

let $target := "audio-output",
    $content := "beep"
return processing-instruction {$target} {$content}

The processing instruction node constructed by this example might be serialized as follows:

<?audio-output beep?>
4.13.3.6 Computed Comment Constructors
[200]    CompCommentConstructor    ::=    "comment" EnclosedExpr
[41]    EnclosedExpr    ::=    "{" Expr? "}"

A computed comment constructor (CompCommentConstructor) constructs a new comment node with its own node identity. The content expression of a computed comment constructor is processed as follows:

  1. Atomization is applied to the value of the content expression, converting it to a sequence of atomic values.

  2. If the result of atomization is an empty sequence, it is replaced by a zero-length string. Otherwise, each atomic value in the atomized sequence is cast into a string.

  3. The individual strings resulting from the previous step are merged into a single string by concatenating them with a single space character between each pair. The resulting string becomes the content property of the constructed comment node.

  4. It is a dynamic error [err:XQDY0072] if the result of the content expression of a computed comment constructor contains two adjacent hyphens or ends with a hyphen.

The parent property of the constructed comment node is set to empty.

The following example illustrates a computed comment constructor:

let $homebase := "Houston"
return comment {concat($homebase, ", we have a problem.")}

The comment node constructed by this example might be serialized as follows:

<!--Houston, we have a problem.-->
4.13.3.7 Computed Namespace Constructors
[195]    CompNamespaceConstructor    ::=    "namespace" (Prefix | EnclosedPrefixExpr) EnclosedURIExpr
[196]    Prefix    ::=    NCName
[197]    EnclosedPrefixExpr    ::=    EnclosedExpr
[198]    EnclosedURIExpr    ::=    EnclosedExpr
[41]    EnclosedExpr    ::=    "{" Expr? "}"

A computed namespace constructor creates a new namespace node, with its own node identity. The parent of the newly created namespace node is empty.

If the constructor specifies a Prefix, it is used as the prefix for the namespace node.

If the constructor specifies a PrefixExpr, the prefix expression is evaluated as follows:

  1. Atomization is applied to the result of the PrefixExpr.

  2. If the result of atomization is an empty sequence or a single atomic value of type xs:string or xs:untypedAtomic, then the following rules are applied in order:

    1. If the result is castable to xs:NCName, then it is used as the local name of the newly constructed namespace node. (The local name of a namespace node represents the prefix part of the namespace binding.)

    2. If the result is the empty sequence or a zero-length xs:string or xs:untypedAtomic value, the new namespace node has no name (such a namespace node represents a binding for the default namespace).

    3. Otherwise, a dynamic error is raised [err:XQDY0074].

  3. If the result of atomization is not an empty sequence or a single atomic value of type xs:string or xs:untypedAtomic, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004].

The content expression is evaluated, and the result is cast to xs:anyURI to create the URI property for the newly created node. An implementation may raise a dynamic error [err:XQDY0074] if the URIExpr of a computed namespace constructor is not a valid instance of xs:anyURI.

An error [err:XQDY0101] is raised if a computed namespace constructor attempts to do any of the following:

  • Bind the prefix xml to some namespace URI other than http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace.

  • Bind a prefix other than xml to the namespace URI http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace.

  • Bind the prefix xmlns to any namespace URI.

  • Bind a prefix to the namespace URI http://www.w3.org/2000/xmlns/.

  • Bind any prefix (including the empty prefix) to a zero-length namespace URI.

By itself, a computed namespace constructor has no effect on in-scope namespaces, but if an element constructor’s content sequence contains a namespace node, the namespace binding it represents is added to the element’s in-scope namespaces.

A computed namespace constructor has no effect on the statically known namespaces.

Note:

The newly created namespace node has all properties defined for a namespace node in the data model. As defined in the data model, the name of the node is the prefix, the string value of the node is the URI, the relative order of nodes that share no common ancestor is implementation dependent, and the relative order of namespace nodes that share a parent is also implementation dependent.

Examples:

  • A computed namespace constructor with a prefix:

    namespace a {"http://a.example.com" }
  • A computed namespace constructor with a prefix expression:

    namespace {"a"} {"http://a.example.com" }
  • A computed namespace constructor with an empty prefix:

    namespace { "" } {"http://a.example.com" }

Computed namespace constructors are generally used to add to the in-scope namespaces of elements created with element constructors:

<age xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> {
  namespace xs {"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"},
  attribute xsi:type {"xs:integer"},
  23
}</age>

In the above example, note that the xsi namespace binding is created for the element because it is used in an attribute name. The attribute’s content is simply character data, and has no effect on namespace bindings. The computed namespace constructor ensures that the xs binding is created.

Computed namespace constructors have no effect on the statically known namespaces. If the prefix a is not already defined in the statically known namespaces, the following expression results in a static error [err:XPST0081].

<a:form>
 {
  namespace a { "http://a.example.com" }
 }
</a:form>

4.13.4 In-scope Namespaces of a Constructed Element

An element node constructed by a direct or computed element constructor has an in-scope namespaces property that consists of a set of namespace bindings. The in-scope namespaces of an element node may affect the way the node is serialized (see 2.3.4 Serialization), and may also affect the behavior of certain functions that operate on nodes, such as fn:name. Note the difference between in-scope namespaces, which is a dynamic property of an element node, and statically known namespaces, which is a static property of an expression. Also note that one of the namespace bindings in the in-scope namespaces may have no prefix (denoting the default namespace for the given element). The in-scope namespaces of a constructed element node consist of the following namespace bindings:

  • A namespace binding is created for each namespace declared in the current element constructor by a namespace declaration attribute.

  • A namespace binding is created for each namespace node in the content sequence of the current element constructor.

  • A namespace binding is created for each namespace that is declared in a namespace declaration attribute of an enclosing direct element constructor and not overridden by the current element constructor or an intermediate constructor.

  • A namespace binding is always created to bind the prefix xml to the namespace URI http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace.

  • For each prefix used in the name of the constructed element or in the names of its attributes, a namespace binding must exist. If a namespace binding does not already exist for one of these prefixes, a new namespace binding is created for it. If this would result in a conflict, because it would require two different bindings of the same prefix, then the prefix used in the node name is changed to an arbitrary implementation-dependent prefix that does not cause such a conflict, and a namespace binding is created for this new prefix. If there is an in-scope default namespace, then a binding is created between the empty prefix and that URI.

Note:

Copy-namespaces mode does not affect the namespace bindings of a newly constructed element node. It applies only to existing nodes that are copied by a constructor expression.

In an element constructor, if two or more namespace bindings in the in-scope bindings would have the same prefix, then an error is raised if they have different URIs [err:XQDY0102]; if they would have the same prefix and URI, duplicate bindings are ignored. If the name of an element in an element constructor is in no namespace, creating a default namespace for that element using a computed namespace constructor is an error [err:XQDY0102]. For instance, the following computed constructor raises an error because the element’s name is not in a namespace, but a default namespace is defined.

element e { namespace {''} {'u'} }

The following query illustrates the in-scope namespaces of a constructed element:

declare namespace p="http://example.com/ns/p";
declare namespace q="http://example.com/ns/q";
declare namespace f="http://example.com/ns/f";

<p:a q:b="{f:func(2)}" xmlns:r="http://example.com/ns/r"/>

The in-scope namespaces of the resulting p:a element consists of the following namespace bindings:

  • p = "http://example.com/ns/p"

  • q = "http://example.com/ns/q"

  • r = "http://example.com/ns/r"

  • xml = "http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace"

The namespace bindings for p and q are added to the result element because their respective namespaces are used in the names of the element and its attributes. The namespace binding r="http://example.com/ns/r" is added to the in-scope namespaces of the constructed element because it is defined by a namespace declaration attribute, even though it is not used in a name.

No namespace binding corresponding to f="http://example.com/ns/f" is created, because the namespace prefix f appears only in the query prolog and is not used in an element or attribute name of the constructed node. This namespace binding does not appear in the query result, even though it is present in the statically known namespaces and is available for use during processing of the query.

Note that the following constructed element, if nested within a validate expression, cannot be validated:

<p xsi:type="xs:integer">3</p>

The constructed element will have namespace bindings for the prefixes xsi (because it is used in a name) and xml (because it is defined for every constructed element node). During validation of the constructed element, the validator will be unable to interpret the namespace prefix xs because it is has no namespace binding. Validation of this constructed element could be made possible by providing a namespace declaration attribute, as in the following example:

<p xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
   xsi:type="xs:integer">3</p>

4.14 Maps and Arrays

Most modern programming languages have support for collections of key/value pairs, which may be called maps, dictionaries, associative arrays, hash tables, keyed lists, or objects (these are not the same thing as objects in object-oriented systems). In XQuery 4.0, we call these maps. Most modern programming languages also support ordered lists of values, which may be called arrays, vectors, or sequences. In XQuery 4.0, we have both sequences and arrays. Unlike sequences, an array is an item, and can appear as an item in a sequence.

Note:

The XQuery 4.0 specification focuses on syntax provided for maps and arrays, especially constructors and lookup.

Some of the functionality typically needed for maps and arrays is provided by functions defined in Section 17 Maps and Arrays FO31, including functions used to read JSON to create maps and arrays, serialize maps and arrays to JSON, combine maps to create a new map, remove map entries to create a new map, iterate over the keys of a map, convert an array to create a sequence, combine arrays to form a new array, and iterate over arrays in various ways.

4.14.1 Maps

[Definition: A map is a function that associates a set of keys with values, resulting in a collection of key / value pairs.] [Definition: Each key / value pair in a map is called an entry.] [Definition: The value associated with a given key is called the associated value of the key.]

4.14.1.1 Map Constructors

A Map is created using a MapConstructor.

[205]    MapConstructor    ::=    "map" "{" (MapConstructorEntry ("," MapConstructorEntry)*)? "}"
[206]    MapConstructorEntry    ::=    MapKeyExpr ":" MapValueExpr
[207]    MapKeyExpr    ::=    ExprSingle
[208]    MapValueExpr    ::=    ExprSingle

Note:

In some circumstances, it is necessary to include whitespace before or after the colon of a MapConstructorEntry to ensure that it is parsed as intended.

For instance, consider the expression map{a:b}. Although it matches the EBNF for MapConstructor (with a matching MapKeyExpr and b matching MapValueExpr), the "longest possible match" rule requires that a:b be parsed as a QName, which results in a syntax error. Changing the expression to map{a :b} or map{a: b} will prevent this, resulting in the intended parse.

Similarly, consider these three expressions:

    map{a:b:c}
    map{a:*:c}
    map{*:b:c}

In each case, the expression matches the EBNF in two different ways, but the “longest possible match” rule forces the parse in which the MapKeyExpr is a:b, a:*, or *:b (respectively) and the MapValueExpr is c. To achieve the alternative parse (in which the MapKeyExpr is merely a or *), insert whitespace before and/or after the first colon.

See A.3 Lexical structure.

The value of the expression is a map whose entries correspond to the key-value pairs obtained by evaluating the successive MapKeyExpr and MapValueExpr expressions.

Each MapKeyExpr expression is evaluated and atomized; a type error [err:XPTY0004] occurs if the result is not a single atomic value. The associated value is the result of evaluating the corresponding MapValueExpr. If the MapValueExpr evaluates to a node, the associated value is the node itself, not a new node with the same values. [Definition: Two atomic values K1 and K2 have the same key value if fn:atomic-equal(K1, K2) returns true, as specified in Section 18.2.1 fn:atomic-equalFO40 ] If two or more entries have the same key value then a dynamic error is raised [err:XQDY0137].

Example:

The following expression constructs a map with seven entries:

map {
  "Su" : "Sunday",
  "Mo" : "Monday",
  "Tu" : "Tuesday",
  "We" : "Wednesday",
  "Th" : "Thursday",
  "Fr" : "Friday",
  "Sa" : "Saturday"
}

Maps can nest, and can contain any XDM value. Here is an example of a nested map with values that can be string values, numeric values, or arrays:

map {
    "book": map {
        "title": "Data on the Web",
        "year": 2000,
        "author": [
            map {
                "last": "Abiteboul",
                "first": "Serge"
            },
            map {
                "last": "Buneman",
                "first": "Peter"
            },
            map {
                "last": "Suciu",
                "first": "Dan"
            }
        ],
        "publisher": "Morgan Kaufmann Publishers",
        "price": 39.95
    }
}
4.14.1.2 Map Lookup using Function Call Syntax

Maps are function items, and a dynamic function call can be used to look up the value associated with a key in a map. If $map is a map and $key is a key, then $map($key) is equivalent to map:get($map, $key). The semantics of such a function call are formally defined in Section 17.1.6 map:get FO31.

Examples:

Note:

XQuery 4.0 also provides an alternate syntax for map and array lookup that is more terse, supports wildcards, and allows lookup to iterate over a sequence of maps or arrays. See 4.14.3 The Lookup Operator ("?") for Maps and Arrays for details.

Map lookups can be chained.

Examples: (These examples assume that $b is bound to the books map from the previous section)

  • The expression $b("book")("title") returns the string Data on the Web.

  • The expression $b("book")("author") returns the array of authors.

  • The expression $b("book")("author")(1)("last") returns the string Abiteboul.

    (This example combines 4.14.2.2 Array Lookup using Function Call Syntax with map lookups.)

4.14.2 Arrays

4.14.2.1 Array Constructors

[Definition: An array is a function item that associates a set of positions, represented as positive integer keys, with values.] The first position in an array is associated with the integer 1. [Definition: The values of an array are called its members.] In the type hierarchy, array has a distinct type, which is derived from function. Atomization converts arrays to sequences (see Atomization).

An array is created using an ArrayConstructor.

[209]    ArrayConstructor    ::=    SquareArrayConstructor | CurlyArrayConstructor
[210]    SquareArrayConstructor    ::=    "[" (ExprSingle ("," ExprSingle)*)? "]"
[211]    CurlyArrayConstructor    ::=    "array" EnclosedExpr

If a member of an array is a node, its node identity is preserved. In both forms of an ArrayConstructor, if a member expression evaluates to a node, the associated value is the node itself, not a new node with the same values. If the member expression evaluates to a map or array, the associated value is a new map or array with the same values.

A SquareArrayConstructor consists of a comma-delimited set of argument expressions. It returns an array in which each member contains the value of the corresponding argument expression.

Examples:

  • [ 1, 2, 5, 7 ] creates an array with four members: 1, 2, 5, and 7.

  • [ (), (27, 17, 0)] creates an array with two members: () and the sequence (27, 17, 0).

  • [ $x, local:items(), <tautology>It is what it is.</tautology> ] creates an array with three members: the value of $x, the result of evaluating the function call, and a tautology element.

A CurlyArrayConstructor can use any expression to create its members. It evaluates its operand expression to obtain a sequence of items and creates an array with these items as members. Unlike a SquareArrayConstructor, a comma in a CurlyArrayConstructor is the comma operator, not a delimiter.

Examples:

  • array { $x } creates an array with one member for each item in the sequence to which $x is bound.

  • array { local:items() } creates an array with one member for each item in the sequence to which local:items() evaluates.

  • array { 1, 2, 5, 7 } creates an array with four members: 1, 2, 5, and 7.

  • array { (), (27, 17, 0) } creates an array with three members: 27, 17, and 0.

  • array{ $x, local:items(), <tautology>It is what it is.</tautology> } creates an array with the following members: the items to which $x is bound, followed by the items to which local:items() evaluates, followed by a tautology element.

Note:

XQuery 4.0 does not provide explicit support for sparse arrays. Use integer-valued maps to represent sparse arrays, e.g. map { 27 : -1, 153 : 17 } .

4.14.2.2 Array Lookup using Function Call Syntax