<div id="docs-body">
 <div class="section">
  <div class="titlepage">
   <div>
    <div>
     <h2 class="title">
      <a name="xml-functions">
      </a>
      14.11 XML Functions
     </h2>
    </div>
   </div>
  </div>
  <div class="table">
   <a name="idm46045200341312">
   </a>
   <p class="title">
    <b>
     Table 14.16 XML Functions
    </b>
   </p>
   <div class="table-contents">
    <table frame="box" rules="all" summary="A reference that lists XML functions.">
     <colgroup>
      <col style="width: 28%"/>
      <col style="width: 71%"/>
     </colgroup>
     <thead>
      <tr>
       <th>
        Name
       </th>
       <th>
        Description
       </th>
      </tr>
     </thead>
     <tbody>
      <tr>
       <td>
        <a class="link" href="xml-functions.html#function_extractvalue">
         <code class="literal">
          ExtractValue()
         </code>
        </a>
       </td>
       <td>
        Extract a value from an XML string using XPath notation
       </td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
       <td>
        <a class="link" href="xml-functions.html#function_updatexml">
         <code class="literal">
          UpdateXML()
         </code>
        </a>
       </td>
       <td>
        Return replaced XML fragment
       </td>
      </tr>
     </tbody>
    </table>
   </div>
  </div>
  <br class="table-break"/>
  <p>
   This section discusses XML and related functionality in MySQL.
  </p>
  <div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
   <div class="admon-title">
    Note
   </div>
   <p>
    It is possible to obtain XML-formatted output from MySQL in the
    <a class="link" href="mysql.html" title="6.5.1 mysql — The MySQL Command-Line Client">
     <span class="command">
      <strong>
       mysql
      </strong>
     </span>
    </a>
    and
    <a class="link" href="mysqldump.html" title="6.5.4 mysqldump — A Database Backup Program">
     <span class="command">
      <strong>
       mysqldump
      </strong>
     </span>
    </a>
    clients by invoking them with the
    <a class="link" href="mysql-command-options.html#option_mysql_xml">
     <code class="option">
      --xml
     </code>
    </a>
    option. See
    <a class="xref" href="mysql.html" title="6.5.1 mysql — The MySQL Command-Line Client">
     Section 6.5.1, “mysql — The MySQL Command-Line Client”
    </a>
    , and
    <a class="xref" href="mysqldump.html" title="6.5.4 mysqldump — A Database Backup Program">
     Section 6.5.4, “mysqldump — A Database Backup Program”
    </a>
    .
   </p>
  </div>
  <p>
   Two functions providing basic XPath 1.0 (XML Path Language,
      version 1.0) capabilities are available. Some basic information
      about XPath syntax and usage is provided later in this section;
      however, an in-depth discussion of these topics is beyond the
      scope of this manual, and you should refer to the
   <a class="ulink" href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath" target="_blank">
    XML Path Language (XPath)
      1.0 standard
   </a>
   for definitive information. A useful resource
      for those new to XPath or who desire a refresher in the basics is
      the
   <a class="ulink" href="http://www.zvon.org/xxl/XPathTutorial/" target="_blank">
    Zvon.org
      XPath Tutorial
   </a>
   , which is available in several languages.
  </p>
  <div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
   <div class="admon-title">
    Note
   </div>
   <p>
    These functions remain under development. We continue to improve
        these and other aspects of XML and XPath functionality in MySQL
        8.4 and onwards. You may discuss these, ask
        questions about them, and obtain help from other users with them
        in the
    <a class="ulink" href="https://forums.mysql.com/list.php?44" target="_blank">
     MySQL XML User
        Forum
    </a>
    .
   </p>
  </div>
  <p>
   XPath expressions used with these functions support user variables
      and local stored program variables. User variables are weakly
      checked; variables local to stored programs are strongly checked
      (see also Bug #26518):
  </p>
  <div class="itemizedlist">
   <ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; ">
    <li class="listitem">
     <p>
      <b>
       User variables (weak checking).
      </b>
      Variables using the syntax
      <code class="literal">
       $@
       <em class="replaceable">
        <code>
         variable_name
        </code>
       </em>
      </code>
      (that is, user variables) are not checked. No warnings or
            errors are issued by the server if a variable has the wrong
            type or has previously not been assigned a value. This also
            means the user is fully responsible for any typographical
            errors, since no warnings are given if (for example)
      <code class="literal">
       $@myvairable
      </code>
      is used where
      <code class="literal">
       $@myvariable
      </code>
      was intended.
     </p>
     <p>
      Example:
     </p>
     <div class="copytoclipboard-wrapper">
      <pre class="programlisting language-sql"><div class="docs-select-all right" id="sa24857705"><div class="copy-help left">Press ⌘+C to copy</div> <div class="right"><button class="clipboard-btn" title="Copy to Clipboard"><span class="icon-clipboard"></span></button></div></div><code class="language-sql"><span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SET</span> <span class="token variable">@xml</span> <span class="token operator">=</span> <span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;&lt;b&gt;X&lt;/b&gt;&lt;b&gt;Y&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output">Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)</span>

<span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SET</span> <span class="token variable">@i</span> <span class="token operator">=</span><span class="token number">1</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token variable">@j</span> <span class="token operator">=</span> <span class="token number">2</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output">Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)</span>

<span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token variable">@i</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token variable">@xml</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'//b[$@i]'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> @i   <span class="token punctuation">|</span> ExtractValue(@xml, '//b[$@i]') <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span>    1 <span class="token punctuation">|</span> X                              <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.00 sec)</span>

<span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token variable">@j</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token variable">@xml</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'//b[$@j]'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> @j   <span class="token punctuation">|</span> ExtractValue(@xml, '//b[$@j]') <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span>    2 <span class="token punctuation">|</span> Y                              <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.00 sec)</span>

<span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token variable">@k</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token variable">@xml</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'//b[$@k]'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> @k   <span class="token punctuation">|</span> ExtractValue(@xml, '//b[$@k]') <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> NULL <span class="token punctuation">|</span>                                <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.00 sec)</span></code></pre>
     </div>
    </li>
    <li class="listitem">
     <p>
      <b>
       Variables in stored programs (strong checking).
      </b>
      Variables using the syntax
      <code class="literal">
       $
       <em class="replaceable">
        <code>
         variable_name
        </code>
       </em>
      </code>
      can be declared and used with these functions when they are
            called inside stored programs. Such variables are local to
            the stored program in which they are defined, and are
            strongly checked for type and value.
     </p>
     <p>
      Example:
     </p>
     <div class="copytoclipboard-wrapper">
      <pre class="programlisting language-sql"><div class="docs-select-all right" id="sa61179858"><div class="copy-help left">Press ⌘+C to copy</div> <div class="right"><button class="clipboard-btn" title="Copy to Clipboard"><span class="icon-clipboard"></span></button></div></div><code class="language-sql"><span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">DELIMITER</span> <span class="token operator">|</span>

<span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">CREATE</span> <span class="token keyword">PROCEDURE</span> myproc <span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">BEGIN</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>   <span class="token keyword">DECLARE</span> i <span class="token datatype">INT</span> <span class="token keyword">DEFAULT</span> <span class="token number">1</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>   <span class="token keyword">DECLARE</span> <span class="token keyword">xml</span> <span class="token datatype">VARCHAR</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token number">25</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span> <span class="token keyword">DEFAULT</span> <span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;X&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a&gt;Y&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a&gt;Z&lt;/a&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>   <span class="token keyword">WHILE</span> i <span class="token operator">&lt;</span> <span class="token number">4</span> <span class="token keyword">DO</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>     <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token keyword">xml</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> i<span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token keyword">xml</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'//a[$i]'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>     <span class="token keyword">SET</span> i <span class="token operator">=</span> i<span class="token operator">+</span><span class="token number">1</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>   <span class="token keyword">END</span> <span class="token keyword">WHILE</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">END</span> <span class="token operator">|</span>
<span class="token output">Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)</span>

<span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">DELIMITER</span> <span class="token punctuation">;</span>

<span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">CALL</span> myproc<span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> xml                      <span class="token punctuation">|</span> i <span class="token punctuation">|</span> ExtractValue(xml, '//a[$i]') <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> &lt;a&gt;X&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a&gt;Y&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a&gt;Z&lt;/a&gt; <span class="token punctuation">|</span> 1 <span class="token punctuation">|</span> X                            <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.00 sec)</span>

<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> xml                      <span class="token punctuation">|</span> i <span class="token punctuation">|</span> ExtractValue(xml, '//a[$i]') <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> &lt;a&gt;X&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a&gt;Y&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a&gt;Z&lt;/a&gt; <span class="token punctuation">|</span> 2 <span class="token punctuation">|</span> Y                            <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.01 sec)</span>

<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> xml                      <span class="token punctuation">|</span> i <span class="token punctuation">|</span> ExtractValue(xml, '//a[$i]') <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> &lt;a&gt;X&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a&gt;Y&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a&gt;Z&lt;/a&gt; <span class="token punctuation">|</span> 3 <span class="token punctuation">|</span> Z                            <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.01 sec)</span></code></pre>
     </div>
     <p>
      <b>
       Parameters.
      </b>
      Variables used in XPath expressions inside stored routines
            that are passed in as parameters are also subject to strong
            checking.
     </p>
    </li>
   </ul>
  </div>
  <p>
   Expressions containing user variables or variables local to stored
      programs must otherwise (except for notation) conform to the rules
      for XPath expressions containing variables as given in the XPath
      1.0 specification.
  </p>
  <div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
   <div class="admon-title">
    Note
   </div>
   <p>
    A user variable used to store an XPath expression is treated as
        an empty string. Because of this, it is not possible to store an
        XPath expression as a user variable. (Bug #32911)
   </p>
  </div>
  <div class="itemizedlist">
   <ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; ">
    <li class="listitem">
     <a name="function_extractvalue">
     </a>
     <p>
      <a class="link" href="xml-functions.html#function_extractvalue">
       <code class="literal">
        ExtractValue(
        <em class="replaceable">
         <code>
          xml_frag
         </code>
        </em>
        ,
        <em class="replaceable">
         <code>
          xpath_expr
         </code>
        </em>
        )
       </code>
      </a>
     </p>
     <a class="indexterm" name="idm46045200282576">
     </a>
     <p>
      <a class="link" href="xml-functions.html#function_extractvalue">
       <code class="literal">
        ExtractValue()
       </code>
      </a>
      takes two string
          arguments, a fragment of XML markup
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        xml_frag
       </code>
      </em>
      and an XPath expression
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        xpath_expr
       </code>
      </em>
      (also known as a
      <span class="firstterm">
       locator
      </span>
      ); it returns the
          text (
      <code class="literal">
       CDATA
      </code>
      ) of the first text node which
          is a child of the element or elements matched by the XPath
          expression.
     </p>
     <p>
      Using this function is the equivalent of performing a match
          using the
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        xpath_expr
       </code>
      </em>
      after
          appending
      <code class="literal">
       /text()
      </code>
      . In other words,
      <a class="link" href="xml-functions.html#function_extractvalue">
       <code class="literal">
        ExtractValue('&lt;a&gt;&lt;b&gt;Sakila&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;',
          '/a/b')
       </code>
      </a>
      and
      <a class="link" href="xml-functions.html#function_extractvalue">
       <code class="literal">
        ExtractValue('&lt;a&gt;&lt;b&gt;Sakila&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;',
          '/a/b/text()')
       </code>
      </a>
      produce the same result. If
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        xml_frag
       </code>
      </em>
      or
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        xpath_expr
       </code>
      </em>
      is
      <code class="literal">
       NULL
      </code>
      , the function returns
      <code class="literal">
       NULL
      </code>
      .
     </p>
     <p>
      If multiple matches are found, the content of the first child
          text node of each matching element is returned (in the order
          matched) as a single, space-delimited string.
     </p>
     <p>
      If no matching text node is found for the expression
          (including the implicit
      <code class="literal">
       /text()
      </code>
      )—for
          whatever reason, as long as
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        xpath_expr
       </code>
      </em>
      is valid, and
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        xml_frag
       </code>
      </em>
      consists of elements which
          are properly nested and closed—an empty string is
          returned. No distinction is made between a match on an empty
          element and no match at all. This is by design.
     </p>
     <p>
      If you need to determine whether no matching element was found
          in
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        xml_frag
       </code>
      </em>
      or such an element was
          found but contained no child text nodes, you should test the
          result of an expression that uses the XPath
      <code class="literal">
       count()
      </code>
      function. For example, both of
          these statements return an empty string, as shown here:
     </p>
     <div class="copytoclipboard-wrapper">
      <pre class="programlisting language-sql"><div class="docs-select-all right" id="sa36161161"><div class="copy-help left">Press ⌘+C to copy</div> <div class="right"><button class="clipboard-btn" title="Copy to Clipboard"><span class="icon-clipboard"></span></button></div></div><code class="language-sql"><span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;&lt;b/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'/a/b'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> ExtractValue('&lt;a&gt;&lt;b/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;', '/a/b') <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span>                                     <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.00 sec)</span>

<span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;&lt;c/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'/a/b'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> ExtractValue('&lt;a&gt;&lt;c/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;', '/a/b') <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span>                                     <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.00 sec)</span></code></pre>
     </div>
     <p>
      However, you can determine whether there was actually a
          matching element using the following:
     </p>
     <div class="copytoclipboard-wrapper">
      <pre class="programlisting language-sql"><div class="docs-select-all right" id="sa30316801"><div class="copy-help left">Press ⌘+C to copy</div> <div class="right"><button class="clipboard-btn" title="Copy to Clipboard"><span class="icon-clipboard"></span></button></div></div><code class="language-sql"><span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;&lt;b/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'count(/a/b)'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> ExtractValue('&lt;a&gt;&lt;b/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;', 'count(/a/b)') <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> 1                                   <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.00 sec)</span>

<span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;&lt;c/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'count(/a/b)'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> ExtractValue('&lt;a&gt;&lt;c/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;', 'count(/a/b)') <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> 0                                   <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.01 sec)</span></code></pre>
     </div>
     <div class="important" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
      <div class="admon-title">
       Important
      </div>
      <p>
       <a class="link" href="xml-functions.html#function_extractvalue">
        <code class="literal">
         ExtractValue()
        </code>
       </a>
       returns only
       <code class="literal">
        CDATA
       </code>
       , and does not return any tags that
            might be contained within a matching tag, nor any of their
            content (see the result returned as
       <code class="literal">
        val1
       </code>
       in the following example).
      </p>
     </div>
     <div class="copytoclipboard-wrapper">
      <pre class="programlisting language-sql"><div class="docs-select-all right" id="sa68629107"><div class="copy-help left">Press ⌘+C to copy</div> <div class="right"><button class="clipboard-btn" title="Copy to Clipboard"><span class="icon-clipboard"></span></button></div></div><code class="language-sql"><span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>   <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;ccc&lt;b&gt;ddd&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'/a'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span> <span class="token keyword">AS</span> val1<span class="token punctuation">,</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>   <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;ccc&lt;b&gt;ddd&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'/a/b'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span> <span class="token keyword">AS</span> val2<span class="token punctuation">,</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>   <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;ccc&lt;b&gt;ddd&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'//b'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span> <span class="token keyword">AS</span> val3<span class="token punctuation">,</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>   <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;ccc&lt;b&gt;ddd&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'/b'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span> <span class="token keyword">AS</span> val4<span class="token punctuation">,</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>   <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;ccc&lt;b&gt;ddd&lt;/b&gt;&lt;b&gt;eee&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'//b'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span> <span class="token keyword">AS</span> val5<span class="token punctuation">;</span>

<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> val1 <span class="token punctuation">|</span> val2 <span class="token punctuation">|</span> val3 <span class="token punctuation">|</span> val4 <span class="token punctuation">|</span> val5    <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> ccc  <span class="token punctuation">|</span> ddd  <span class="token punctuation">|</span> ddd  <span class="token punctuation">|</span>      <span class="token punctuation">|</span> ddd eee <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span></code></pre>
     </div>
     <p>
      This function uses the current SQL collation for making
          comparisons with
      <code class="literal">
       contains()
      </code>
      , performing the
          same collation aggregation as other string functions (such as
      <a class="link" href="string-functions.html#function_concat">
       <code class="literal">
        CONCAT()
       </code>
      </a>
      ), in taking into
          account the collation coercibility of their arguments; see
      <a class="xref" href="charset-collation-coercibility.html" title="12.8.4 Collation Coercibility in Expressions">
       Section 12.8.4, “Collation Coercibility in Expressions”
      </a>
      , for an
          explanation of the rules governing this behavior.
     </p>
     <p>
      (Previously, binary—that is,
          case-sensitive—comparison was always used.)
     </p>
     <p>
      <code class="literal">
       NULL
      </code>
      is returned if
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        xml_frag
       </code>
      </em>
      contains elements which
          are not properly nested or closed, and a warning is generated,
          as shown in this example:
     </p>
     <div class="copytoclipboard-wrapper">
      <pre class="programlisting language-sql"><div class="docs-select-all right" id="sa91420222"><div class="copy-help left">Press ⌘+C to copy</div> <div class="right"><button class="clipboard-btn" title="Copy to Clipboard"><span class="icon-clipboard"></span></button></div></div><code class="language-sql"><span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;c&lt;/a&gt;&lt;b'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'//a'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> ExtractValue('&lt;a&gt;c&lt;/a&gt;&lt;b', '//a') <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> NULL                              <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set, 1 warning (0.00 sec)</span>

<span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SHOW</span> <span class="token keyword">WARNINGS</span>\G
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span> 1. row <span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span>
  Level<span class="token punctuation">:</span> Warning
   Code<span class="token punctuation">:</span> 1525
Message<span class="token punctuation">:</span> Incorrect XML value<span class="token punctuation">:</span> 'parse error at line 1 pos 11<span class="token punctuation">:</span>
         END-OF-INPUT unexpected ('&gt;' wanted)'
</span><span class="token output">1 row in set (0.00 sec)</span>

<span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;c&lt;/a&gt;&lt;b/&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'//a'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> ExtractValue('&lt;a&gt;c&lt;/a&gt;&lt;b/&gt;', '//a') <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> c                                   <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.00 sec)</span></code></pre>
     </div>
    </li>
    <li class="listitem">
     <a name="function_updatexml">
     </a>
     <p>
      <a class="link" href="xml-functions.html#function_updatexml">
       <code class="literal">
        UpdateXML(
        <em class="replaceable">
         <code>
          xml_target
         </code>
        </em>
        ,
        <em class="replaceable">
         <code>
          xpath_expr
         </code>
        </em>
        ,
        <em class="replaceable">
         <code>
          new_xml
         </code>
        </em>
        )
       </code>
      </a>
     </p>
     <a class="indexterm" name="idm46045200230304">
     </a>
     <p>
      This function replaces a single portion of a given fragment of
          XML markup
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        xml_target
       </code>
      </em>
      with a new
          XML fragment
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        new_xml
       </code>
      </em>
      , and then
          returns the changed XML. The portion of
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        xml_target
       </code>
      </em>
      that is replaced matches
          an XPath expression
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        xpath_expr
       </code>
      </em>
      supplied by the user.
     </p>
     <p>
      If no expression matching
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        xpath_expr
       </code>
      </em>
      is found, or if multiple
          matches are found, the function returns the original
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        xml_target
       </code>
      </em>
      XML fragment. All three
          arguments should be strings. If any of the arguments to
      <code class="literal">
       UpdateXML()
      </code>
      are
      <code class="literal">
       NULL
      </code>
      ,
          the function returns
      <code class="literal">
       NULL
      </code>
      .
     </p>
     <div class="copytoclipboard-wrapper">
      <pre class="programlisting language-sql"><div class="docs-select-all right" id="sa28149475"><div class="copy-help left">Press ⌘+C to copy</div> <div class="right"><button class="clipboard-btn" title="Copy to Clipboard"><span class="icon-clipboard"></span></button></div></div><code class="language-sql"><span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>   <span class="token function">UpdateXML</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;&lt;b&gt;ccc&lt;/b&gt;&lt;d&gt;&lt;/d&gt;&lt;/a&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'/a'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'&lt;e&gt;fff&lt;/e&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span> <span class="token keyword">AS</span> val1<span class="token punctuation">,</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>   <span class="token function">UpdateXML</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;&lt;b&gt;ccc&lt;/b&gt;&lt;d&gt;&lt;/d&gt;&lt;/a&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'/b'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'&lt;e&gt;fff&lt;/e&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span> <span class="token keyword">AS</span> val2<span class="token punctuation">,</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>   <span class="token function">UpdateXML</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;&lt;b&gt;ccc&lt;/b&gt;&lt;d&gt;&lt;/d&gt;&lt;/a&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'//b'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'&lt;e&gt;fff&lt;/e&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span> <span class="token keyword">AS</span> val3<span class="token punctuation">,</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>   <span class="token function">UpdateXML</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;&lt;b&gt;ccc&lt;/b&gt;&lt;d&gt;&lt;/d&gt;&lt;/a&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'/a/d'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'&lt;e&gt;fff&lt;/e&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span> <span class="token keyword">AS</span> val4<span class="token punctuation">,</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>   <span class="token function">UpdateXML</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;&lt;d&gt;&lt;/d&gt;&lt;b&gt;ccc&lt;/b&gt;&lt;d&gt;&lt;/d&gt;&lt;/a&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'/a/d'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'&lt;e&gt;fff&lt;/e&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span> <span class="token keyword">AS</span> val5
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span> \G

<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span> 1. row <span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span>
val1<span class="token punctuation">:</span> &lt;e&gt;fff&lt;/e&gt;
val2<span class="token punctuation">:</span> &lt;a&gt;&lt;b&gt;ccc&lt;/b&gt;&lt;d&gt;&lt;/d&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
val3<span class="token punctuation">:</span> &lt;a&gt;&lt;e&gt;fff&lt;/e&gt;&lt;d&gt;&lt;/d&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
val4<span class="token punctuation">:</span> &lt;a&gt;&lt;b&gt;ccc&lt;/b&gt;&lt;e&gt;fff&lt;/e&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
val5<span class="token punctuation">:</span> &lt;a&gt;&lt;d&gt;&lt;/d&gt;&lt;b&gt;ccc&lt;/b&gt;&lt;d&gt;&lt;/d&gt;&lt;/a&gt;</span></code></pre>
     </div>
    </li>
   </ul>
  </div>
  <div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
   <div class="admon-title">
    Note
   </div>
   <p>
    A discussion in depth of XPath syntax and usage are beyond the
        scope of this manual. Please see the
    <a class="ulink" href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath" target="_blank">
     XML Path Language
        (XPath) 1.0 specification
    </a>
    for definitive information. A
        useful resource for those new to XPath or who are wishing a
        refresher in the basics is the
    <a class="ulink" href="http://www.zvon.org/xxl/XPathTutorial/" target="_blank">
     Zvon.org
        XPath Tutorial
    </a>
    , which is available in several languages.
   </p>
  </div>
  <p>
   Descriptions and examples of some basic XPath expressions follow:
  </p>
  <div class="itemizedlist">
   <ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; ">
    <li class="listitem">
     <p>
      <code class="literal">
       /
       <em class="replaceable">
        <code>
         tag
        </code>
       </em>
      </code>
     </p>
     <p>
      Matches
      <code class="literal">
       &lt;
       <em class="replaceable">
        <code>
         tag
        </code>
       </em>
       /&gt;
      </code>
      if
          and only if
      <code class="literal">
       &lt;
       <em class="replaceable">
        <code>
         tag
        </code>
       </em>
       /&gt;
      </code>
      is
          the root element.
     </p>
     <p>
      Example:
      <code class="literal">
       /a
      </code>
      has a match in
      <code class="literal">
       &lt;a&gt;&lt;b/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
      </code>
      because it
          matches the outermost (root) tag. It does not match the inner
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        a
       </code>
      </em>
      element in
      <code class="literal">
       &lt;b&gt;&lt;a/&gt;&lt;/b&gt;
      </code>
      because in
          this instance it is the child of another element.
     </p>
    </li>
    <li class="listitem">
     <p>
      <code class="literal">
       /
       <em class="replaceable">
        <code>
         tag1
        </code>
       </em>
       /
       <em class="replaceable">
        <code>
         tag2
        </code>
       </em>
      </code>
     </p>
     <p>
      Matches
      <code class="literal">
       &lt;
       <em class="replaceable">
        <code>
         tag2
        </code>
       </em>
       /&gt;
      </code>
      if
          and only if it is a child of
      <code class="literal">
       &lt;
       <em class="replaceable">
        <code>
         tag1
        </code>
       </em>
       /&gt;
      </code>
      ,
          and
      <code class="literal">
       &lt;
       <em class="replaceable">
        <code>
         tag1
        </code>
       </em>
       /&gt;
      </code>
      is
          the root element.
     </p>
     <p>
      Example:
      <code class="literal">
       /a/b
      </code>
      matches the
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        b
       </code>
      </em>
      element in the XML fragment
      <code class="literal">
       &lt;a&gt;&lt;b/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
      </code>
      because it is
          a child of the root element
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        a
       </code>
      </em>
      . It
          does not have a match in
      <code class="literal">
       &lt;b&gt;&lt;a/&gt;&lt;/b&gt;
      </code>
      because in
          this case,
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        b
       </code>
      </em>
      is the root element
          (and hence the child of no other element). Nor does the XPath
          expression have a match in
      <code class="literal">
       &lt;a&gt;&lt;c&gt;&lt;b/&gt;&lt;/c&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
      </code>
      ;
          here,
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        b
       </code>
      </em>
      is a descendant of
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        a
       </code>
      </em>
      , but not actually a child of
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        a
       </code>
      </em>
      .
     </p>
     <p>
      This construct is extendable to three or more elements. For
          example, the XPath expression
      <code class="literal">
       /a/b/c
      </code>
      matches the
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        c
       </code>
      </em>
      element in the
          fragment
      <code class="literal">
       &lt;a&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;c/&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
      </code>
      .
     </p>
    </li>
    <li class="listitem">
     <p>
      <code class="literal">
       //
       <em class="replaceable">
        <code>
         tag
        </code>
       </em>
      </code>
     </p>
     <p>
      Matches any instance of
      <code class="literal">
       &lt;
       <em class="replaceable">
        <code>
         tag
        </code>
       </em>
       &gt;
      </code>
      .
     </p>
     <p>
      Example:
      <code class="literal">
       //a
      </code>
      matches the
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        a
       </code>
      </em>
      element in any of the following:
      <code class="literal">
       &lt;a&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;c/&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
      </code>
      ;
      <code class="literal">
       &lt;c&gt;&lt;a&gt;&lt;b/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;
      </code>
      ;
      <code class="literal">
       &lt;c&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a/&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/c&gt;
      </code>
      .
     </p>
     <p>
      <code class="literal">
       //
      </code>
      can be combined with
      <code class="literal">
       /
      </code>
      . For example,
      <code class="literal">
       //a/b
      </code>
      matches the
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        b
       </code>
      </em>
      element in either of
          the fragments
      <code class="literal">
       &lt;a&gt;&lt;b/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
      </code>
      or
      <code class="literal">
       &lt;c&gt;&lt;a&gt;&lt;b/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/c&gt;
      </code>
      .
     </p>
     <div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
      <div class="admon-title">
       Note
      </div>
      <p>
       <code class="literal">
        //
        <em class="replaceable">
         <code>
          tag
         </code>
        </em>
       </code>
       is the
            equivalent of
       <code class="literal">
        /descendant-or-self::*/
        <em class="replaceable">
         <code>
          tag
         </code>
        </em>
       </code>
       .
            A common error is to confuse this with
       <code class="literal">
        /descendant-or-self::
        <em class="replaceable">
         <code>
          tag
         </code>
        </em>
       </code>
       ,
            although the latter expression can actually lead to very
            different results, as can be seen here:
      </p>
      <div class="copytoclipboard-wrapper">
       <pre class="programlisting language-sql"><div class="docs-select-all right" id="sa31264531"><div class="copy-help left">Press ⌘+C to copy</div> <div class="right"><button class="clipboard-btn" title="Copy to Clipboard"><span class="icon-clipboard"></span></button></div></div><code class="language-sql"><span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SET</span> <span class="token variable">@xml</span> <span class="token operator">=</span> <span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;c&gt;w&lt;/c&gt;&lt;b&gt;x&lt;/b&gt;&lt;d&gt;y&lt;/d&gt;z&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output">Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)</span>

<span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token variable">@xml</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> @xml                                    <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> &lt;a&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;c&gt;w&lt;/c&gt;&lt;b&gt;x&lt;/b&gt;&lt;d&gt;y&lt;/d&gt;z&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt; <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.00 sec)</span>

<span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token variable">@xml</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'//b[1]'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> ExtractValue(@xml, '//b[1]') <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> x z                          <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.00 sec)</span>

<span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token variable">@xml</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'//b[2]'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> ExtractValue(@xml, '//b[2]') <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span>                              <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.01 sec)</span>

<span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token variable">@xml</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'/descendant-or-self::*/b[1]'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> ExtractValue(@xml, '/descendant<span class="token punctuation">-</span>or<span class="token punctuation">-</span>self::*/b[1]') <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> x z                                               <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.06 sec)</span>

<span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token variable">@xml</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'/descendant-or-self::*/b[2]'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> ExtractValue(@xml, '/descendant<span class="token punctuation">-</span>or<span class="token punctuation">-</span>self::*/b[2]') <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span>                                                   <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.00 sec)</span>


<span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token variable">@xml</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'/descendant-or-self::b[1]'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> ExtractValue(@xml, '/descendant<span class="token punctuation">-</span>or<span class="token punctuation">-</span>self::b[1]') <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> z                                               <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.00 sec)</span>

<span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token variable">@xml</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'/descendant-or-self::b[2]'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> ExtractValue(@xml, '/descendant<span class="token punctuation">-</span>or<span class="token punctuation">-</span>self::b[2]') <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> x                                               <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.00 sec)</span></code></pre>
      </div>
     </div>
    </li>
    <li class="listitem">
     <p>
      The
      <code class="literal">
       *
      </code>
      operator acts as a
      <span class="quote">
       “
       <span class="quote">
        wildcard
       </span>
       ”
      </span>
      that matches any element. For example,
          the expression
      <code class="literal">
       /*/b
      </code>
      matches the
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        b
       </code>
      </em>
      element in either of the XML
          fragments
      <code class="literal">
       &lt;a&gt;&lt;b/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
      </code>
      or
      <code class="literal">
       &lt;c&gt;&lt;b/&gt;&lt;/c&gt;
      </code>
      . However, the
          expression does not produce a match in the fragment
      <code class="literal">
       &lt;b&gt;&lt;a/&gt;&lt;/b&gt;
      </code>
      because
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        b
       </code>
      </em>
      must be a child of some other
          element. The wildcard may be used in any position: The
          expression
      <code class="literal">
       /*/b/*
      </code>
      matches any child of a
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        b
       </code>
      </em>
      element that is itself not the
          root element.
     </p>
    </li>
    <li class="listitem">
     <p>
      You can match any of several locators using the
      <code class="literal">
       |
      </code>
      (
      <a class="link" href="union.html" title="15.2.18 UNION Clause">
       <code class="literal">
        UNION
       </code>
      </a>
      )
          operator. For example, the expression
      <code class="literal">
       //b|//c
      </code>
      matches all
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        b
       </code>
      </em>
      and
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        c
       </code>
      </em>
      elements in the XML target.
     </p>
    </li>
    <li class="listitem">
     <p>
      It is also possible to match an element based on the value of
          one or more of its attributes. This done using the syntax
      <code class="literal">
       <em class="replaceable">
        <code>
         tag
        </code>
       </em>
       [@
       <em class="replaceable">
        <code>
         attribute
        </code>
       </em>
       ="
       <em class="replaceable">
        <code>
         value
        </code>
       </em>
       "]
      </code>
      .
          For example, the expression
      <code class="literal">
       //b[@id="idB"]
      </code>
      matches the second
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        b
       </code>
      </em>
      element in the
          fragment
      <code class="literal">
       &lt;a&gt;&lt;b id="idA"/&gt;&lt;c/&gt;&lt;b
          id="idB"/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
      </code>
      . To match against
      <span class="emphasis">
       <em>
        any
       </em>
      </span>
      element having
      <code class="literal">
       <em class="replaceable">
        <code>
         attribute
        </code>
       </em>
       ="
       <em class="replaceable">
        <code>
         value
        </code>
       </em>
       "
      </code>
      ,
          use the XPath expression
      <code class="literal">
       //*[
       <em class="replaceable">
        <code>
         attribute
        </code>
       </em>
       ="
       <em class="replaceable">
        <code>
         value
        </code>
       </em>
       "]
      </code>
      .
     </p>
     <p>
      To filter multiple attribute values, simply use multiple
          attribute-comparison clauses in succession. For example, the
          expression
      <code class="literal">
       //b[@c="x"][@d="y"]
      </code>
      matches the
          element
      <code class="literal">
       &lt;b c="x" d="y"/&gt;
      </code>
      occurring
          anywhere in a given XML fragment.
     </p>
     <p>
      To find elements for which the same attribute matches any of
          several values, you can use multiple locators joined by the
      <code class="literal">
       |
      </code>
      operator. For example, to match all
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        b
       </code>
      </em>
      elements whose
      <em class="replaceable">
       <code>
        c
       </code>
      </em>
      attributes have either of the
          values 23 or 17, use the expression
      <code class="literal">
       //b[@c="23"]|//b[@c="17"]
      </code>
      . You can also use
          the logical
      <code class="literal">
       or
      </code>
      operator for this purpose:
      <code class="literal">
       //b[@c="23" or @c="17"]
      </code>
      .
     </p>
     <div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
      <div class="admon-title">
       Note
      </div>
      <p>
       The difference between
       <code class="literal">
        or
       </code>
       and
       <code class="literal">
        |
       </code>
       is that
       <code class="literal">
        or
       </code>
       joins
            conditions, while
       <code class="literal">
        |
       </code>
       joins result sets.
      </p>
     </div>
    </li>
   </ul>
  </div>
  <p>
   <b>
    XPath Limitations.
   </b>
   The XPath syntax supported by these functions is currently
        subject to the following limitations:
  </p>
  <div class="itemizedlist">
   <ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; ">
    <li class="listitem">
     <p>
      Nodeset-to-nodeset comparison (such as
      <code class="literal">
       '/a/b[@c=@d]'
      </code>
      ) is not supported.
     </p>
    </li>
    <li class="listitem">
     <p>
      All of the standard XPath comparison operators are supported.
          (Bug #22823)
     </p>
    </li>
    <li class="listitem">
     <p>
      Relative locator expressions are resolved in the context of
          the root node. For example, consider the following query and
          result:
     </p>
     <div class="copytoclipboard-wrapper">
      <pre class="programlisting language-sql"><div class="docs-select-all right" id="sa95116007"><div class="copy-help left">Press ⌘+C to copy</div> <div class="right"><button class="clipboard-btn" title="Copy to Clipboard"><span class="icon-clipboard"></span></button></div></div><code class="language-sql"><span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>   <span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;&lt;b c="1"&gt;X&lt;/b&gt;&lt;b c="2"&gt;Y&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>    <span class="token string">'a/b'</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span> <span class="token punctuation">)</span> <span class="token keyword">AS</span> result<span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> result <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> X Y    <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.03 sec)</span></code></pre>
     </div>
     <p>
      In this case, the locator
      <code class="literal">
       a/b
      </code>
      resolves to
      <code class="literal">
       /a/b
      </code>
      .
     </p>
     <p>
      Relative locators are also supported within predicates. In the
          following example,
      <code class="literal">
       d[../@c="1"]
      </code>
      is resolved
          as
      <code class="literal">
       /a/b[@c="1"]/d
      </code>
      :
     </p>
     <div class="copytoclipboard-wrapper">
      <pre class="programlisting language-sql"><div class="docs-select-all right" id="sa17366285"><div class="copy-help left">Press ⌘+C to copy</div> <div class="right"><button class="clipboard-btn" title="Copy to Clipboard"><span class="icon-clipboard"></span></button></div></div><code class="language-sql"><span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>      <span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;
    -&gt;        &lt;b c="1"&gt;&lt;d&gt;X&lt;/d&gt;&lt;/b&gt;
    -&gt;        &lt;b c="2"&gt;&lt;d&gt;X&lt;/d&gt;&lt;/b&gt;
    -&gt;      &lt;/a&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>      <span class="token string">'a/b/d[../@c="1"]'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">AS</span> result<span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> result <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> X      <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.00 sec)</span></code></pre>
     </div>
    </li>
    <li class="listitem">
     <p>
      Locators prefixed with expressions that evaluate as scalar
          values—including variable references, literals, numbers,
          and scalar function calls—are not permitted, and their
          use results in an error.
     </p>
    </li>
    <li class="listitem">
     <p>
      The
      <code class="literal">
       ::
      </code>
      operator is not supported in
          combination with node types such as the following:
     </p>
     <div class="itemizedlist">
      <ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; ">
       <li class="listitem">
        <p>
         <code class="literal">
          <em class="replaceable">
           <code>
            axis
           </code>
          </em>
          ::comment()
         </code>
        </p>
       </li>
       <li class="listitem">
        <p>
         <code class="literal">
          <em class="replaceable">
           <code>
            axis
           </code>
          </em>
          ::text()
         </code>
        </p>
       </li>
       <li class="listitem">
        <p>
         <code class="literal">
          <em class="replaceable">
           <code>
            axis
           </code>
          </em>
          ::processing-instructions()
         </code>
        </p>
       </li>
       <li class="listitem">
        <p>
         <code class="literal">
          <em class="replaceable">
           <code>
            axis
           </code>
          </em>
          ::node()
         </code>
        </p>
       </li>
      </ul>
     </div>
     <p>
      However, name tests (such as
      <code class="literal">
       <em class="replaceable">
        <code>
         axis
        </code>
       </em>
       ::
       <em class="replaceable">
        <code>
         name
        </code>
       </em>
      </code>
      and
      <code class="literal">
       <em class="replaceable">
        <code>
         axis
        </code>
       </em>
       ::*
      </code>
      ) are
          supported, as shown in these examples:
     </p>
     <div class="copytoclipboard-wrapper">
      <pre class="programlisting language-sql"><div class="docs-select-all right" id="sa36578304"><div class="copy-help left">Press ⌘+C to copy</div> <div class="right"><button class="clipboard-btn" title="Copy to Clipboard"><span class="icon-clipboard"></span></button></div></div><code class="language-sql"><span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;&lt;b&gt;x&lt;/b&gt;&lt;c&gt;y&lt;/c&gt;&lt;/a&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><span class="token string">'/a/child::b'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> ExtractValue('&lt;a&gt;&lt;b&gt;x&lt;/b&gt;&lt;c&gt;y&lt;/c&gt;&lt;/a&gt;','/a/child::b') <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> x                                                     <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.02 sec)</span>

<span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;&lt;b&gt;x&lt;/b&gt;&lt;c&gt;y&lt;/c&gt;&lt;/a&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><span class="token string">'/a/child::*'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> ExtractValue('&lt;a&gt;&lt;b&gt;x&lt;/b&gt;&lt;c&gt;y&lt;/c&gt;&lt;/a&gt;','/a/child::*') <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> x y                                                   <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.01 sec)</span></code></pre>
     </div>
    </li>
    <li class="listitem">
     <p>
      <span class="quote">
       “
       <span class="quote">
        Up-and-down
       </span>
       ”
      </span>
      navigation is not supported in
          cases where the path would lead
      <span class="quote">
       “
       <span class="quote">
        above
       </span>
       ”
      </span>
      the root
          element. That is, you cannot use expressions which match on
          descendants of ancestors of a given element, where one or more
          of the ancestors of the current element is also an ancestor of
          the root element (see Bug #16321).
     </p>
    </li>
    <li class="listitem">
     <p>
      The following XPath functions are not supported, or have known
          issues as indicated:
     </p>
     <div class="itemizedlist">
      <ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; ">
       <li class="listitem">
        <p>
         <code class="literal">
          id()
         </code>
        </p>
       </li>
       <li class="listitem">
        <p>
         <code class="literal">
          lang()
         </code>
        </p>
       </li>
       <li class="listitem">
        <p>
         <code class="literal">
          local-name()
         </code>
        </p>
       </li>
       <li class="listitem">
        <p>
         <code class="literal">
          name()
         </code>
        </p>
       </li>
       <li class="listitem">
        <p>
         <code class="literal">
          namespace-uri()
         </code>
        </p>
       </li>
       <li class="listitem">
        <p>
         <code class="literal">
          normalize-space()
         </code>
        </p>
       </li>
       <li class="listitem">
        <p>
         <code class="literal">
          starts-with()
         </code>
        </p>
       </li>
       <li class="listitem">
        <p>
         <code class="literal">
          string()
         </code>
        </p>
       </li>
       <li class="listitem">
        <p>
         <code class="literal">
          substring-after()
         </code>
        </p>
       </li>
       <li class="listitem">
        <p>
         <code class="literal">
          substring-before()
         </code>
        </p>
       </li>
       <li class="listitem">
        <p>
         <code class="literal">
          translate()
         </code>
        </p>
       </li>
      </ul>
     </div>
    </li>
    <li class="listitem">
     <p>
      The following axes are not supported:
     </p>
     <div class="itemizedlist">
      <ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; ">
       <li class="listitem">
        <p>
         <code class="literal">
          following-sibling
         </code>
        </p>
       </li>
       <li class="listitem">
        <p>
         <code class="literal">
          following
         </code>
        </p>
       </li>
       <li class="listitem">
        <p>
         <code class="literal">
          preceding-sibling
         </code>
        </p>
       </li>
       <li class="listitem">
        <p>
         <code class="literal">
          preceding
         </code>
        </p>
       </li>
      </ul>
     </div>
    </li>
   </ul>
  </div>
  <p>
   XPath expressions passed as arguments to
   <a class="link" href="xml-functions.html#function_extractvalue">
    <code class="literal">
     ExtractValue()
    </code>
   </a>
   and
   <a class="link" href="xml-functions.html#function_updatexml">
    <code class="literal">
     UpdateXML()
    </code>
   </a>
   may contain the colon
      character (
   <code class="literal">
    :
   </code>
   ) in element selectors, which
      enables their use with markup employing XML namespaces notation.
      For example:
  </p>
  <div class="copytoclipboard-wrapper">
   <pre class="programlisting language-sql"><div class="docs-select-all right" id="sa81143472"><div class="copy-help left">Press ⌘+C to copy</div> <div class="right"><button class="clipboard-btn" title="Copy to Clipboard"><span class="icon-clipboard"></span></button></div></div><code class="language-sql"><span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SET</span> <span class="token variable">@xml</span> <span class="token operator">=</span> <span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;111&lt;b:c&gt;222&lt;d&gt;333&lt;/d&gt;&lt;e:f&gt;444&lt;/e:f&gt;&lt;/b:c&gt;&lt;/a&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output">Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)</span>

<span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token variable">@xml</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'//e:f'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> ExtractValue(@xml, '//e:f') <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> 444                         <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.00 sec)</span>

<span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token function">UpdateXML</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token variable">@xml</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'//b:c'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'&lt;g:h&gt;555&lt;/g:h&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> UpdateXML(@xml, '//b:c', '&lt;g:h&gt;555&lt;/g:h&gt;') <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> &lt;a&gt;111&lt;g:h&gt;555&lt;/g:h&gt;&lt;/a&gt;                   <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.00 sec)</span></code></pre>
  </div>
  <p>
   This is similar in some respects to what is permitted by
   <a class="ulink" href="http://xalan.apache.org/" target="_blank">
    Apache Xalan
   </a>
   and
      some other parsers, and is much simpler than requiring namespace
      declarations or the use of the
   <code class="literal">
    namespace-uri()
   </code>
   and
   <code class="literal">
    local-name()
   </code>
   functions.
  </p>
  <p>
   <b>
    Error handling.
   </b>
   For both
   <a class="link" href="xml-functions.html#function_extractvalue">
    <code class="literal">
     ExtractValue()
    </code>
   </a>
   and
   <a class="link" href="xml-functions.html#function_updatexml">
    <code class="literal">
     UpdateXML()
    </code>
   </a>
   , the XPath locator
        used must be valid and the XML to be searched must consist of
        elements which are properly nested and closed. If the locator is
        invalid, an error is generated:
  </p>
  <div class="copytoclipboard-wrapper">
   <pre class="programlisting language-sql"><div class="docs-select-all right" id="sa99660915"><div class="copy-help left">Press ⌘+C to copy</div> <div class="right"><button class="clipboard-btn" title="Copy to Clipboard"><span class="icon-clipboard"></span></button></div></div><code class="language-sql"><span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;c&lt;/a&gt;&lt;b/&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'/&amp;a'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output">ERROR 1105 (HY000)<span class="token punctuation">:</span> XPATH syntax error<span class="token punctuation">:</span> '&amp;a'</span></code></pre>
  </div>
  <p>
   If
   <em class="replaceable">
    <code>
     xml_frag
    </code>
   </em>
   does not consist of
      elements which are properly nested and closed,
   <code class="literal">
    NULL
   </code>
   is returned and a warning is generated, as
      shown in this example:
  </p>
  <div class="copytoclipboard-wrapper">
   <pre class="programlisting language-sql"><div class="docs-select-all right" id="sa15578653"><div class="copy-help left">Press ⌘+C to copy</div> <div class="right"><button class="clipboard-btn" title="Copy to Clipboard"><span class="icon-clipboard"></span></button></div></div><code class="language-sql"><span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;c&lt;/a&gt;&lt;b'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'//a'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> ExtractValue('&lt;a&gt;c&lt;/a&gt;&lt;b', '//a') <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> NULL                              <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set, 1 warning (0.00 sec)</span>

<span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SHOW</span> <span class="token keyword">WARNINGS</span>\G
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span> 1. row <span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span><span class="token punctuation">*</span>
  Level<span class="token punctuation">:</span> Warning
   Code<span class="token punctuation">:</span> 1525
Message<span class="token punctuation">:</span> Incorrect XML value<span class="token punctuation">:</span> 'parse error at line 1 pos 11<span class="token punctuation">:</span>
         END-OF-INPUT unexpected ('&gt;' wanted)'
</span><span class="token output">1 row in set (0.00 sec)</span>

<span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'&lt;a&gt;c&lt;/a&gt;&lt;b/&gt;'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">'//a'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> ExtractValue('&lt;a&gt;c&lt;/a&gt;&lt;b/&gt;', '//a') <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> c                                   <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.00 sec)</span></code></pre>
  </div>
  <div class="important" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
   <div class="admon-title">
    Important
   </div>
   <p>
    The replacement XML used as the third argument to
    <a class="link" href="xml-functions.html#function_updatexml">
     <code class="literal">
      UpdateXML()
     </code>
    </a>
    is
    <span class="emphasis">
     <em>
      not
     </em>
    </span>
    checked to determine whether it
        consists solely of elements which are properly nested and
        closed.
   </p>
  </div>
  <p>
   <b>
    XPath Injection.
   </b>
   <span class="firstterm">
    code injection
   </span>
   occurs when
        malicious code is introduced into the system to gain
        unauthorized access to privileges and data. It is based on
        exploiting assumptions made by developers about the type and
        content of data input from users. XPath is no exception in this
        regard.
  </p>
  <a class="indexterm" name="idm46045200043072">
  </a>
  <a class="indexterm" name="idm46045200042000">
  </a>
  <a class="indexterm" name="idm46045200040512">
  </a>
  <p>
   A common scenario in which this can happen is the case of
      application which handles authorization by matching the
      combination of a login name and password with those found in an
      XML file, using an XPath expression like this one:
  </p>
  <div class="copytoclipboard-wrapper">
   <pre class="programlisting one-line language-simple"><div class="docs-select-all right" id="sa3488336"><div class="copy-help left">Press ⌘+C to copy</div> <div class="right"><button class="clipboard-btn" title="Copy to Clipboard"><span class="icon-clipboard"></span></button></div></div><code class="language-simple"><span class="token operator">/</span><span class="token operator">/</span>user<span class="token punctuation">[</span>login<span class="token operator">/</span>text<span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token operator">=</span>'neapolitan' and password<span class="token operator">/</span>text<span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token operator">=</span>'1c3cr34m'<span class="token punctuation">]</span><span class="token operator">/</span>attribute<span class="token operator">:</span><span class="token operator">:</span>id</code></pre>
  </div>
  <p>
   This is the XPath equivalent of an SQL statement like this one:
  </p>
  <div class="copytoclipboard-wrapper">
   <pre class="programlisting one-line language-sql"><div class="docs-select-all right" id="sa98359190"><div class="copy-help left">Press ⌘+C to copy</div> <div class="right"><button class="clipboard-btn" title="Copy to Clipboard"><span class="icon-clipboard"></span></button></div></div><code class="language-sql"><span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> id <span class="token keyword">FROM</span> users <span class="token keyword">WHERE</span> login<span class="token operator">=</span><span class="token string">'neapolitan'</span> <span class="token operator">AND</span> <span class="token keyword">password</span><span class="token operator">=</span><span class="token string">'1c3cr34m'</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span></code></pre>
  </div>
  <p>
   A PHP application employing XPath might handle the login process
      like this:
  </p>
  <div class="copytoclipboard-wrapper">
   <pre class="programlisting language-php"><div class="docs-select-all right" id="sa48763878"><div class="copy-help left">Press ⌘+C to copy</div> <div class="right"><button class="clipboard-btn" title="Copy to Clipboard"><span class="icon-clipboard"></span></button></div></div><code class="language-php"><span class="token php language-php"><span class="token delimiter important">&lt;?php</span>

  <span class="token variable">$file</span>     <span class="token operator">=</span>   <span class="token string">"users.xml"</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>

  <span class="token variable">$login</span>    <span class="token operator">=</span>   <span class="token variable">$POST</span><span class="token punctuation">[</span><span class="token string">"login"</span><span class="token punctuation">]</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
  <span class="token variable">$password</span> <span class="token operator">=</span>   <span class="token variable">$POST</span><span class="token punctuation">[</span><span class="token string">"password"</span><span class="token punctuation">]</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>

  <span class="token variable">$xpath</span> <span class="token operator">=</span> <span class="token string">"//user[login/text()=$login and password/text()=$password]/attribute::id"</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>

  <span class="token keyword">if</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span> <span class="token function">file_exists</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token variable">$file</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span> <span class="token punctuation">)</span>
  <span class="token punctuation">{</span>
    <span class="token variable">$xml</span> <span class="token operator">=</span> <span class="token function">simplexml_load_file</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token variable">$file</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>

    <span class="token keyword">if</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token variable">$result</span> <span class="token operator">=</span> <span class="token variable">$xml</span><span class="token operator">-</span><span class="token operator">&gt;</span><span class="token function">xpath</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token variable">$xpath</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span>
      <span class="token keyword">echo</span> <span class="token string">"You are now logged in as user $result[0]."</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
    <span class="token keyword">else</span>
      <span class="token keyword">echo</span> <span class="token string">"Invalid login name or password."</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
  <span class="token punctuation">}</span>
  <span class="token keyword">else</span>
    <span class="token function">exit</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">"Failed to open $file."</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>

<span class="token delimiter important">?&gt;</span></span></code></pre>
  </div>
  <p>
   No checks are performed on the input. This means that a malevolent
      user can
   <span class="quote">
    “
    <span class="quote">
     short-circuit
    </span>
    ”
   </span>
   the test by entering
   <code class="literal">
    ' or 1=1
   </code>
   for both the login name and password,
      resulting in
   <code class="varname">
    $xpath
   </code>
   being evaluated as shown
      here:
  </p>
  <div class="copytoclipboard-wrapper">
   <pre class="programlisting one-line language-simple"><div class="docs-select-all right" id="sa44796503"><div class="copy-help left">Press ⌘+C to copy</div> <div class="right"><button class="clipboard-btn" title="Copy to Clipboard"><span class="icon-clipboard"></span></button></div></div><code class="language-simple"><span class="token operator">/</span><span class="token operator">/</span>user<span class="token punctuation">[</span>login<span class="token operator">/</span>text<span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token operator">=</span>'' or 1<span class="token operator">=</span>1 and password<span class="token operator">/</span>text<span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token operator">=</span>'' or 1<span class="token operator">=</span>1<span class="token punctuation">]</span><span class="token operator">/</span>attribute<span class="token operator">:</span><span class="token operator">:</span>id</code></pre>
  </div>
  <p>
   Since the expression inside the square brackets always evaluates
      as
   <code class="literal">
    true
   </code>
   , it is effectively the same as this
      one, which matches the
   <code class="literal">
    id
   </code>
   attribute of every
   <code class="literal">
    user
   </code>
   element in the XML document:
  </p>
  <div class="copytoclipboard-wrapper">
   <pre class="programlisting one-line language-simple"><div class="docs-select-all right" id="sa3007568"><div class="copy-help left">Press ⌘+C to copy</div> <div class="right"><button class="clipboard-btn" title="Copy to Clipboard"><span class="icon-clipboard"></span></button></div></div><code class="language-simple"><span class="token operator">/</span><span class="token operator">/</span>user<span class="token operator">/</span>attribute<span class="token operator">:</span><span class="token operator">:</span>id</code></pre>
  </div>
  <p>
   One way in which this particular attack can be circumvented is
      simply by quoting the variable names to be interpolated in the
      definition of
   <code class="literal">
    $xpath
   </code>
   , forcing the values passed
      from a Web form to be converted to strings:
  </p>
  <div class="copytoclipboard-wrapper">
   <pre class="programlisting one-line language-simple"><div class="docs-select-all right" id="sa15491836"><div class="copy-help left">Press ⌘+C to copy</div> <div class="right"><button class="clipboard-btn" title="Copy to Clipboard"><span class="icon-clipboard"></span></button></div></div><code class="language-simple">$xpath <span class="token operator">=</span> "<span class="token operator">/</span><span class="token operator">/</span>user<span class="token punctuation">[</span>login<span class="token operator">/</span>text<span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token operator">=</span>'$login' and password<span class="token operator">/</span>text<span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token operator">=</span>'$password'<span class="token punctuation">]</span><span class="token operator">/</span>attribute<span class="token operator">:</span><span class="token operator">:</span>id"<span class="token punctuation">;</span></code></pre>
  </div>
  <p>
   This is the same strategy that is often recommended for preventing
      SQL injection attacks. In general, the practices you should follow
      for preventing XPath injection attacks are the same as for
      preventing SQL injection:
  </p>
  <a class="indexterm" name="idm46045200023984">
  </a>
  <a class="indexterm" name="idm46045200022912">
  </a>
  <div class="itemizedlist">
   <ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; ">
    <li class="listitem">
     <p>
      Never accepted untested data from users in your application.
     </p>
    </li>
    <li class="listitem">
     <p>
      Check all user-submitted data for type; reject or convert data
          that is of the wrong type
     </p>
    </li>
    <li class="listitem">
     <p>
      Test numeric data for out of range values; truncate, round, or
          reject values that are out of range. Test strings for illegal
          characters and either strip them out or reject input
          containing them.
     </p>
    </li>
    <li class="listitem">
     <p>
      Do not output explicit error messages that might provide an
          unauthorized user with clues that could be used to compromise
          the system; log these to a file or database table instead.
     </p>
    </li>
   </ul>
  </div>
  <p>
   Just as SQL injection attacks can be used to obtain information
      about database schemas, so can XPath injection be used to traverse
      XML files to uncover their structure, as discussed in Amit
      Klein's paper
   <a class="ulink" href="http://www.packetstormsecurity.org/papers/bypass/Blind_XPath_Injection_20040518.pdf" target="_blank">
    Blind
      XPath Injection
   </a>
   (PDF file, 46KB).
  </p>
  <p>
   It is also important to check the output being sent back to the
      client. Consider what can happen when we use the MySQL
   <a class="link" href="xml-functions.html#function_extractvalue">
    <code class="literal">
     ExtractValue()
    </code>
   </a>
   function:
  </p>
  <div class="copytoclipboard-wrapper">
   <pre class="programlisting language-sql"><div class="docs-select-all right" id="sa50557669"><div class="copy-help left">Press ⌘+C to copy</div> <div class="right"><button class="clipboard-btn" title="Copy to Clipboard"><span class="icon-clipboard"></span></button></div></div><code class="language-sql"><span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>     <span class="token function">LOAD_FILE</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'users.xml'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>     <span class="token string">'//user[login/text()="" or 1=1 and password/text()="" or 1=1]/attribute::id'</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span> <span class="token punctuation">)</span> <span class="token keyword">AS</span> id<span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> id                            <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> 00327 13579 02403 42354 28570 <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.01 sec)</span></code></pre>
  </div>
  <p>
   Because
   <a class="link" href="xml-functions.html#function_extractvalue">
    <code class="literal">
     ExtractValue()
    </code>
   </a>
   returns
      multiple matches as a single space-delimited string, this
      injection attack provides every valid ID contained within
   <code class="filename">
    users.xml
   </code>
   to the user as a single row of
      output. As an extra safeguard, you should also test output before
      returning it to the user. Here is a simple example:
  </p>
  <div class="copytoclipboard-wrapper">
   <pre class="programlisting language-sql"><div class="docs-select-all right" id="sa99825596"><div class="copy-help left">Press ⌘+C to copy</div> <div class="right"><button class="clipboard-btn" title="Copy to Clipboard"><span class="icon-clipboard"></span></button></div></div><code class="language-sql"><span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token variable">@id</span> <span class="token operator">=</span> <span class="token function">ExtractValue</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>     <span class="token function">LOAD_FILE</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'users.xml'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>     <span class="token string">'//user[login/text()="" or 1=1 and password/text()="" or 1=1]/attribute::id'</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span> <span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output">Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)</span>

<span class="token prompt">mysql&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">SELECT</span> <span class="token function">IF</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>     <span class="token function">INSTR</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token variable">@id</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token string">' '</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span> <span class="token operator">=</span> <span class="token number">0</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>     <span class="token variable">@id</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span>     <span class="token string">'Unable to retrieve user ID'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span>
<span class="token prompt">    -&gt;</span> <span class="token keyword">AS</span> singleID<span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> singleID                   <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">|</span> Unable to retrieve user ID <span class="token punctuation">|</span></span>
<span class="token output"><span class="token punctuation">+</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">-</span><span class="token punctuation">+</span></span>
<span class="token output">1 row in set (0.00 sec)</span></code></pre>
  </div>
  <p>
   In general, the guidelines for returning data to users securely
      are the same as for accepting user input. These can be summed up
      as:
  </p>
  <div class="itemizedlist">
   <ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; ">
    <li class="listitem">
     <p>
      Always test outgoing data for type and permissible values.
     </p>
    </li>
    <li class="listitem">
     <p>
      Never permit unauthorized users to view error messages that
          might provide information about the application that could be
          used to exploit it.
     </p>
    </li>
   </ul>
  </div>
 </div>
 <br/>
</div>
