ExtractValue(xml_frag, xpath_expr)

ExtractValue() takes two string arguments, a fragment of XML markup xml_frag and an XPath expression xpath_expr (also known as a locator); it returns the text (CDATA) of the first text node which is a child of the element(s) matched by the XPath expression. It is the equivalent of performing a match using the xpath_expr after appending /text(). In other words, ExtractValue('<a><b>Sakila</b></a>', '/a/b') and ExtractValue('<a><b>Sakila</b></a>', '/a/b/text()') produce the same result.

If multiple matches are found, then the content of the first child text node of each matching element is returned (in the order matched) as a single, space-delimited string.

If no matching text node is found for the (augmented) expression — for whatever reason, as long as xpth_expr is valid, and xml_frag is well-formed — 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.

If you need to determine whether no matching element was found in xml_frag or such an element was found but contained no child text nodes, you should test the result of an expression that uses the XPath count() function. For example, both of these statements return an empty string, as shown here:

mysql> SELECT ExtractValue('<a><b/></a>', '/a/b');
+-------------------------------------+
| ExtractValue('>a<>b/<>/a<', '/a/b') |
+-------------------------------------+
|                                     |
+-------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> SELECT ExtractValue('<a><c/></a>', '/a/b');
+-------------------------------------+
| ExtractValue('<a><c/></a>', '/a/b') |
+-------------------------------------+
|                                     |
+-------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

However, you can determine whether there was actually a matching element using the following:

mysql> SELECT ExtractValue('<a><b/></a>', 'count(/a/b)');
+-------------------------------------+
| ExtractValue('<a><b/></a>', 'count(/a/b)') |
+-------------------------------------+
| 1                                   |
+-------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> SELECT ExtractValue('<a><c/></a>', 'count(/a/b)');
+-------------------------------------+
| ExtractValue('<a><c/></a>', 'count(/a/b)') |
+-------------------------------------+
| 0                                   |
+-------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.01 sec)

Note that ExtractValue() returns only CDATA, and does not return any tags that might be contained within a matching tag, nor any of their content (see the result returned as val1 in the following example).

mysql> SELECT
    ->   ExtractValue('<a>ccc<b>ddd</b></a>', '/a') AS val1,
    ->   ExtractValue('<a>ccc<b>ddd</b></a>', '/a/b') AS val2,
    ->   ExtractValue('<a>ccc<b>ddd</b></a>', '//b') AS val3,
    ->   ExtractValue('<a>ccc<b>ddd</b></a>', '/b') AS val4,
    ->   ExtractValue('<a>ccc<b>ddd</b><b>eee</b></a>', '//b') AS val5;

+------+------+------+------+---------+
| val1 | val2 | val3 | val4 | val5    |
+------+------+------+------+---------+
| ccc  | ddd  | ddd  |      | ddd eee |
+------+------+------+------+---------+

Beginning with MySQL 5.1.8, this function uses the current SQL collation for making comparisons with contains(). (Previously, binary — that is, case-sensitive — comparison was always used.)

UpdateXML(xml_target, xpath_expr, new_xml)

This function replaces a single portion of a given fragment of XML markup xml_target with a new XML fragment new_xml, and then returns the changed XML. The portion of xml_target that is replaced matches an XPath expression xpath_expr supplied by the user. If no expression matching xpath_expr is found, or if multiple matches are found, the function returns the original xml_target XML fragment. All three arguments must be strings.

mysql> SELECT
    ->   UpdateXML('<a><b>ccc</b><d></d></a>', '/a', '<e>fff</e>') AS val1,
    ->   UpdateXML('<a><b>ccc</b><d></d></a>', '/b', '<e>fff</e>') AS val2,
    ->   UpdateXML('<a><b>ccc</b><d></d></a>', '//b', '<e>fff</e>') AS val3,
    ->   UpdateXML('<a><b>ccc</b><d></d></a>', '/a/d', '<e>fff</e>') AS val4,
    ->   UpdateXML('<a><d></d><b>ccc</b><d></d></a>', '/a/d', '<e>fff</e>') AS val5
    -> \G

*************************** 1. row ***************************
val1: <e>fff</e>
val2: <a><b>ccc</b><d></d></a>
val3: <a><e>fff</e><d></d></a>
val4: <a><b>ccc</b><e>fff</e></a>
val5: <a><d></d><b>ccc</b><d></d></a>

/tag

Matches <tag/> if and only if <tag/> is the root element.

Example: /a has a match in <a><b/></a> because it matches the outermost (root) tag. It does not match the inner a element in <b><a/></b> because in this instance it is the child of another element.

/tag1/tag2

Matches <tag2/> if and only if it is a child of <tag1/>, and <tag1/> is the root element.

Example: /a/b matches the b element in the XML fragment <a><b/></a> because it is a child of the root element a. It does not have a match in <b><a/></b> because in this case, b is the root element (and hence the child of no other element). Nor does the XPath expression have a match in <a><c><b/></c></a>; here, b is a descendant of a, but not actually a child of a.

This construct is extendable to three or more elements. For example, the XPath expression /a/b/c matches the c element in the fragment <a><b><c/></b></a>.

//tag

Matches any instance of tag.

Example: //a matches the a element in any of the following: <a><b><c/></b></a>; <c><a><b/></a></b>; <c><b><a/></b></c>.

// can be combined with /. For example, //a/b matches the b element in either of the fragments <a><b/></a> or <a><b><c/></b></a>

The * operator acts as a “wildcard” that matches any element. For example, the expression /*/b matches the b element in either of the XML fragments <a><b/></a> or <c><b/></c>. However, the expression does not produce a match in the fragment <b><a/></b> because b must be a child of some other element. The wildcard may be used in any position: The expression /*/b/* will match any child of a b element that is itself not the root element.

Multiple locators may be matched using the | (logical OR) operator. For example, the expression //b|//c matches all b and c elements in the XML target.

It is also possible to match an element based on the value of one or more of its attributes. This done using the syntax tag[@attribute="value"]. For example, the expression //b[@id="idB"] matches the second b element in the fragment <a><b id="idA"/><c/><b id="idB"/></a>. To match against any element having attribute="value", use the XPath expression //*[attribute="value"].

To filter multiple attribute values, simply use multiple attribute-comparison clauses in succession. For example, the expression //b[@c="x"][@d="y"] matches the element <b c="x" d="y"/> occurring anywhere in a given XML fragment.

To find elements for which the same attribute matches one of several values, you must use multiple locators joined by the | operator. For example, to match all b elements whose c attributes have either of the values 23 or 17, use the expression //b[@c="23"]|b[@c="17"].

Prior to MySQL 5.1.14, nodeset-to-nodeset comparison (such as '/a/b[@c=@d]') was not supported, and equality and inequality (= and (!=)) were the only supported comparison operators. Beginning with MySQL 5.1.14, all of the standard XPath comparison operators are supported. (Bug#22823)

Relative locator expressions are not supported. XPath expressions must begin with / or //.

The :: operator is not supported.

“Up-and-down” navigation is not supported in cases where the path would lead “above” 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).

The following XPath functions are not supported:

The following axes are not supported: