Overview
XQuery – XML Query Language is a powerful language designed to query and manipulate XML documents. It was developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in 1999.
XML Query Language
Some of the features are as follows:
XQuery is primarily used to query XML documents. It can perform complex queries across XML databases, documents, and other data structures that support XML. This includes extracting data, making computations, and restructuring the output.
An XQuery implementation can search multiple back-end systems and combine results, effectively integrating multiple sources of information. It can also transform the content and structure of XML documents.
XQuery is a functional language that supports loops, conditionals, and variables, making it powerful and flexible for processing XML data.
FLWOR Expressions
Every construct in XQuery is an expression, resulting in its ability to query XML data and construct new XML elements. This makes it ideal for transforming XML data into new formats or integrating data from multiple sources.
FLWOR expression stands for (For, Let, Where, Order by, Return), which is used to iterate over sequences, bind variables, filter data, sort results, and construct return values. This makes XQuery very expressive and powerful for data querying tasks.
XQuery utilizes XPath, another W3C standard, to navigate through elements and attributes in an XML document. XQuery extends XPath by adding additional capabilities and syntactical elements.
XQuery is supported by most XML databases and many XML libraries, providing a standard and powerful way to interact with XML data across different systems and platforms.