XPATH_STRING

Description

XPATH_STRING

is a row function that takes XML and returns the first string matching the given XPath expression.

Syntax

XPATH_STRING

(

xml_expression

xpath_expression

Return Value

Returns one value per row of type

TEXT

If the XPath expression matches more than one string in the given XML node, this function will return the first
match only. To return all matches, use

XPATH_STRINGS

instead.

Input Parameters

xml_expression: Required. The name of a field of type
TEXT
or a literal string that contains a valid XML node (a snippet of XML consisting of a parent element and one or more child nodes).
xpath_expression: Required. An XPath expression that refers to a node, element, or attribute within the XML string passed to this expression. Any XPath expression that complies to the XML Path Language (XPath) Version 1.0 specification is valid.

Examples

These example

XPATH_STRING

expressions assume you have a field in your dataset named address
that contains XML-formatted strings such as this:

<list>
 <address type="work">
    <street1>1300 So. El Camino Real</street1>
    <street2>Suite 600</street2>
    <city>San Mateo</city>
    <state>CA</state>
    <zipcode>94403</zipcode>
 </address>
 <address type="home">
    <street1>123 Oakdale Street</street1>
    <street2/>
    <city>San Francisco</city>
    <state>CA</state>
    <zipcode>94123</zipcode>
 </address>
</list>

Get the zipcode
value from any address
element where the type
attribute equals home
:

XPATH_STRING([address], "//address[@type='home']/zipcode")

returns:

94123

Get the city
value from the second address
element:

XPATH_STRING([address], "/list/address[2]/city")

returns:

San Francisco

Get the values from all child elements of the first address element (as one string):

XPATH_STRING([address], "/list/address")

returns:

1300 So. El Camino RealSuite 600 San MateoCA94403