XML Path Language (XPath) 3.1

2.1.1 Static Context

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

The individual components of the static context are described below. A default initial value for each component must be specified by the host language. The scope of each component is specified in C.1 Static Context Components.

• [Definition: XPath 1.0 compatibility mode. This value is true if rules for backward compatibility with XPath Version 1.0 are in effect; otherwise it is false. ]

• [Definition: Statically known namespaces. This is a mapping from prefix to namespace URI that defines all the namespaces that are known during static processing of a given expression.] The URI value is whitespace normalized according to the rules for the xs:anyURI type in Section 3.2.17 anyURI ^XS1-2 or Section 3.3.17 anyURI ^XS11-2. Note the difference between in-scope namespaces, which is a dynamic property of an element node, and statically known namespaces, which is a static property of an expression.

• [Definition: Default element/type namespace. This is a namespace URI or absent^DM31. The namespace URI, if present, is used for any unprefixed QName appearing in a position where an element or type name is expected.] The URI value is whitespace normalized according to the rules for the xs:anyURI type in Section 3.2.17 anyURI ^XS1-2 or Section 3.3.17 anyURI ^XS11-2.

• [Definition: Default function namespace. This is a namespace URI or absent^DM31. The namespace URI, if present, is used for any unprefixed QName appearing in a position where a function name is expected.] The URI value is whitespace normalized according to the rules for the xs:anyURI type in Section 3.2.17 anyURI ^XS1-2 or Section 3.3.17 anyURI ^XS11-2.

• [Definition: In-scope schema definitions. This is a generic term for all the element declarations, attribute declarations, and schema type definitions that are in scope during static analysis of an expression.] It includes the following three parts:

  • [Definition: In-scope schema types. Each schema type definition is identified either by an expanded QName (for a named type) or by an implementation-dependent type identifier (for an anonymous type). The in-scope schema types include the predefined schema types described in 2.5.1 Predefined Schema Types. ]

  • [Definition: In-scope element declarations. Each element declaration is identified either by an expanded QName (for a top-level element declaration) or by an implementation-dependent element identifier (for a local element declaration). ] An element declaration includes information about the element's substitution group affiliation.

    [Definition: Substitution groups are defined in Section 2.2.2.2 Element Substitution Group ^XS1-1 and Section 2.2.2.2 Element Substitution Group ^XS11-1. Informally, the substitution group headed by a given element (called the head element) consists of the set of elements that can be substituted for the head element without affecting the outcome of schema validation.]

  • [Definition: In-scope attribute declarations. Each attribute declaration is identified either by an expanded QName (for a top-level attribute declaration) or by an implementation-dependent attribute identifier (for a local attribute declaration). ]

• [Definition: In-scope variables. This is a mapping from expanded QName to type. It defines the set of variables that are available for reference within an expression. The expanded QName is the name of the variable, and the type is the static type of the variable.]

  An expression that binds a variable extends the in-scope variables, within the scope of the variable, with the variable and its type. Within the body of an inline function expression , the in-scope variables are extended by the names and types of the function parameters.

• [Definition: Context item static type. This component defines the static type of the context item within the scope of a given expression.]

• [Definition: Statically known function signatures. This is a mapping from (expanded QName, arity) to function signature^DM31. ] The entries in this mapping define the set of functions that are available to be called from a static function call, or referenced from a named function reference. Each such function is uniquely identified by its expanded QName and arity (number of parameters). Given a statically known function's expanded QName and arity, this component supplies the function's signature^DM31, which specifies various static properties of the function, including types.

  The statically known function signatures include the signatures of functions from a variety of sources, including the built-in functions. Implementations must ensure that no two functions have the same expanded QName and the same arity (even if the signatures are consistent).

• [Definition: Statically known collations. This is an implementation-defined mapping from URI to collation. It defines the names of the collations that are available for use in processing expressions.] [Definition: A collation is a specification of the manner in which strings and URIs are compared and, by extension, ordered. For a more complete definition of collation, see Section 5.3 Comparison of strings ^FO31.]

• [Definition: Default collation. This identifies one of the collations in statically known collations as the collation to be used by functions and operators for comparing and ordering values of type xs:string and xs:anyURI (and types derived from them) when no explicit collation is specified.]

• [Definition: Static Base URI. This is an absolute URI, used to resolve relative URI references. ] If E is a subexpression of F then the Static Base URI of E is the same as the Static Base URI of F. There are no constructs in XPath that require resolution of relative URI references during static analysis. The Static Base URI is available during dynamic evaluation by use of the fn:static-base-uri function, and is used implicitly during dynamic evaluation by functions such as fn:doc. Relative URI references are resolved as described in 2.4.6 Resolving a Relative URI Reference.

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

  Note:

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

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

  Note:

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

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

• [Definition: Statically known decimal formats. This is a mapping from QNames to decimal formats, with one default format that has no visible name, referred to as the unnamed decimal format. Each format is available for use when formatting numbers using the fn:format-number function.]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • [Definition: zero-digit is the character used to represent the digit zero; the default value is the Western digit zero (#x30). This character must be a digit (category Nd in the Unicode property database), and it must have the numeric value zero. This property implicitly defines the ten Unicode characters that are used to represent the values 0 to 9: Unicode is organized so that each set of decimal digits forms a contiguous block of characters in numerical sequence. Within the picture string any of these ten character can be used (interchangeably) as a place-holder for a mandatory digit. Within the final result string, these ten characters are used to represent the digits zero to nine.]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2.1.2 Dynamic Context

[Definition: The dynamic context of an expression is defined as information that is needed for the dynamic evaluation of an expression.] If evaluation of an expression relies on some part of the dynamic context that is absent^DM31, a dynamic error is raised [err:XPDY0002].

The individual components of the dynamic context are described below. Further rules governing the semantics of these components can be found in C.2 Dynamic Context Components.

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

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

[Definition: A singleton focus is a focus that refers to a single item; in a singleton focus, context item is set to the item, context position = 1 and context size = 1.]

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

• [Definition: The context item is the item currently being processed.] [Definition: When the context item is a node, it can also be referred to as the context node.] The context item is returned by an expression consisting of a single dot (.). When an expression E1/E2 or E1[E2] is evaluated, each item in the sequence obtained by evaluating E1 becomes the context item in the inner focus for an evaluation of E2.

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

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

• [Definition: Variable values. This is a mapping from expanded QName to value. It contains the same expanded QNames as the in-scope variables in the static context for the expression. The expanded QName is the name of the variable and the value is the dynamic value of the variable, which includes its dynamic type.]

• [Definition: Named functions. This is a mapping from (expanded QName, arity) to function^DM31. ] It supplies a function for each signature in statically known function signatures and may supply other functions (see 2.2.4 Consistency Constraints). Named functions can include external functions. [Definition: External functions are functions that are implemented outside the query environment.] For example, an implementation might provide a set of implementation-defined external functions in addition to the core function library described in [XQuery and XPath Functions and Operators 3.1]. [Definition: An implementation-defined function is an external function that is implementation-defined ]. [Definition: A host language function is an external function defined by the host language.]

• [Definition: Current dateTime. This information represents an implementation-dependent point in time during the processing of an expression, and includes an explicit timezone. It can be retrieved by the fn:current-dateTime function. If invoked multiple times during the execution of an expression, this function always returns the same result.]

• [Definition: Implicit timezone. This is the timezone to be used when a date, time, or dateTime value that does not have a timezone is used in a comparison or arithmetic operation. The implicit timezone is an implementation-defined value of type xs:dayTimeDuration. See Section 3.2.7.3 Timezones ^XS1-2 or Section 3.3.7 dateTime ^XS11-2 for the range of valid values of a timezone.]

• [Definition: Default language. This is the natural language used when creating human-readable output (for example, by the functions fn:format-date and fn:format-integer) if no other language is requested. The value is a language code as defined by the type xs:language.]

• [Definition: Default calendar. This is the calendar used when formatting dates in human-readable output (for example, by the functions fn:format-date and fn:format-dateTime) if no other calendar is requested. The value is a string.]

• [Definition: Default place. This is a geographical location used to identify the place where events happened (or will happen) when formatting dates and times using functions such as fn:format-date and fn:format-dateTime, if no other place is specified. It is used when translating timezone offsets to civil timezone names, and when using calendars where the translation from ISO dates/times to a local representation is dependent on geographical location. Possible representations of this information are an ISO country code or an Olson timezone name, but implementations are free to use other representations from which the above information can be derived.]

• [Definition: Available documents. This is a mapping of strings to document nodes. Each string represents the absolute URI of a resource. The document node is the root of a tree that represents that resource using the data model. The document node is returned by the fn:doc function when applied to that URI.] The set of available documents is not limited to the set of statically known documents, and it may be empty.

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

  Note:

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

• [Definition: Available text resources. This is a mapping of strings to text resources. Each string represents the absolute URI of a resource. The resource is returned by the fn:unparsed-text function when applied to that URI.] The set of available text resources is not limited to the set of statically known documents, and it may be empty.

• [Definition: Available collections. This is a mapping of strings to sequences of items. Each string represents the absolute URI of a resource. The sequence of items represents the result of the fn:collection function when that URI is supplied as the argument. ] The set of available collections is not limited to the set of statically known collections, and it may be empty.

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

  Note:

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

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

• [Definition: Available URI collections. This is a mapping of strings to sequences of URIs. The string represents the absolute URI of a resource which can be interpreted as an aggregation of a number of individual resources each of which has its own URI. The sequence of URIs represents the result of the fn:uri-collection function when that URI is supplied as the argument. ] There is no implication that the URIs in this sequence can be successfully dereferenced, or that the resources they refer to have any particular media type.

  Note:

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

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

• [Definition: Environment variables. This is a mapping from names to values. Both the names and the values are strings. The names are compared using an implementation-defined collation, and are unique under this collation. The set of environment variables is implementation-defined and may be empty.]

  Note:

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

2.2.1 Data Model Generation

The input data for an expression must be represented as one or more XDM instances. This process occurs outside the domain of XPath 3.1, which is why Figure 1 represents it in the external processing domain. Here are some steps by which an XML document might be converted to an XDM instance:

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

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

The above steps provide an example of how an XDM instance might be constructed. An XDM instance might also be synthesized directly from a relational database, or constructed in some other way (see DM3 in Fig. 1.) XPath 3.1 is defined in terms of the data model, but it does not place any constraints on how XDM instances are constructed.

[Definition: Each element node and attribute node in an XDM instance has a type annotation (described in Section 2.7 Schema Information ^DM31). The type annotation of a node is a reference to an XML Schema type. ] The type-name of a node is the name of the type referenced by its type annotation. If the XDM instance was derived from a validated XML document as described in Section 3.3 Construction from a PSVI ^DM31, the type annotations of the element and attribute nodes are derived from schema validation. XPath 3.1 does not provide a way to directly access the type annotation of an element or attribute node.

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

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

2.2.2 Schema Import Processing

The in-scope schema definitions in the static context are provided by the host language (see step SI1 in Figure 1) and must satisfy the consistency constraints defined in 2.2.4 Consistency Constraints.

2.2.3 Expression Processing

XPath 3.1 defines two phases of processing called the static analysis phase and the dynamic evaluation phase (see Fig. 1). During the static analysis phase, static errors, dynamic errors, or type errors may be raised. During the dynamic evaluation phase, only dynamic errors or type errors may be raised. These kinds of errors are defined in 2.3.1 Kinds of Errors.

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

2.2.4 Consistency Constraints

In order for XPath 3.1 to be well defined, the input XDM instances, the static context, and the dynamic context must be mutually consistent. The consistency constraints listed below are prerequisites for correct functioning of an XPath 3.1 implementation. Enforcement of these consistency constraints is beyond the scope of this specification. This specification does not define the result of an expression under any condition in which one or more of these constraints is not satisfied.

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

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

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

• For each mapping of a string to a document node in available documents, if there exists a mapping of the same string to a document type in statically known documents, the document node must match the document type, using the matching rules in 2.5.5 SequenceType Matching.

• For each mapping of a string to a sequence of items in available collections, if there exists a mapping of the same string to a type in statically known collections, the sequence of items must match the type, using the matching rules in 2.5.5 SequenceType Matching.

• The sequence of items in the default collection must match the statically known default collection type, using the matching rules in 2.5.5 SequenceType Matching.

• The value of the context item must match the context item static type, using the matching rules in 2.5.5 SequenceType Matching.

• For each (variable, type) pair in in-scope variables and the corresponding (variable, value) pair in variable values such that the variable names are equal, the value must match the type, using the matching rules in 2.5.5 SequenceType Matching.

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

• For each (expanded QName, arity) -> FunctionTest entry in statically known function signatures, there must exist an (expanded QName, arity) -> function entry in named functions such that the function's signature^DM31 is FunctionTest.

2.3.1 Kinds of Errors

As described in 2.2.3 Expression Processing, XPath 3.1 defines a static analysis phase, which does not depend on input data, and a dynamic evaluation phase, which does depend on input data. Errors may be raised during each phase.

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

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

[Definition: A type error may be raised during the static analysis phase or the dynamic evaluation phase. During the static analysis phase, a type error occurs when the static type of an expression does not match the expected type of the context in which the expression occurs. During the dynamic evaluation phase, a type error occurs when the dynamic type of a value does not match the expected type of the context in which the value occurs.]

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

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

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

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

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

error()

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

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

[Definition: In addition to static errors, dynamic errors, and type errors, an XPath 3.1 implementation may raise warnings, either during the static analysis phase or the dynamic evaluation phase. The circumstances in which warnings are raised, and the ways in which warnings are handled, are implementation-defined.]

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

2.3.2 Identifying and Reporting Errors

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

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

• XP identifies the error as an XPath error (some errors, originally defined by XQuery and later added to XPath, use the code XQ instead).

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

  • ST denotes a static error.

  • DY denotes a dynamic error.

  • TY denotes a type error.

• nnnn is a unique numeric code.

The method by which an XPath 3.1 processor reports error information to the external environment is implementation-defined.

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

2.3.3 Handling Dynamic Errors

Except as noted in this document, if any operand of an expression raises a dynamic error, the expression also raises a dynamic error. If an expression can validly return a value or raise a dynamic error, the implementation may choose to return the value or raise the dynamic error (see 2.3.4 Errors and Optimization). For example, the logical expression expr1 and expr2 may return the value false if either operand returns false, or may raise a dynamic error if either operand raises a dynamic error.

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

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

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

[Definition: In addition to its identifying QName, a dynamic error may also carry a descriptive string and one or more additional values called error values.] An implementation may provide a mechanism whereby an application-defined error handler can process error values and produce diagnostic messages. The host language may also provide error handling mechanisms.

A dynamic error may be raised by a built-in function or operator. For example, the div operator raises an error if its operands are xs:decimal values and its second operand is equal to zero. Errors raised by built-in functions and operators are defined in [XQuery and XPath Functions and Operators 3.1].

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

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

2.3.4 Errors and Optimization

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Examples:

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

  some $x in $expr1 satisfies $x = 47

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

  //product[id = 47]

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

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

  Note:

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

  Note:

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

• Conditional expressions must not raise a dynamic error in respect of subexpressions occurring in a branch that is not selected, and must not return the value delivered by a branch unless that branch is selected. Thus, the following example must not raise a dynamic error if the document abc.xml does not exist:

  if (doc-available('abc.xml')) then doc('abc.xml') else ()

  Of course, the condition must be evaluated in order to determine which branch is selected, and the query must not be rewritten in a way that would bypass evaluating the condition.

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

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

Expression rewrite is illustrated by the following examples.

• Consider the expression //part[color eq "Red"]. An implementation might choose to rewrite this expression as //part[color = "Red"][color eq "Red"]. The implementation might then process the expression as follows: First process the "=" predicate by probing an index on parts by color to quickly find all the parts that have a Red color; then process the "eq" predicate by checking each of these parts to make sure it has only a single color. The result would be as follows:

  • Parts that have exactly one color that is Red are returned.

  • If some part has color Red together with some other color, an error is raised.

  • The existence of some part that has no color Red but has multiple non-Red colors does not trigger an error.

• The expression in the following example cannot raise a casting error if it is evaluated exactly as written (i.e., left to right). Since neither predicate depends on the context position, an implementation might choose to reorder the predicates to achieve better performance (for example, by taking advantage of an index). This reordering could cause the expression to raise an error.

  $N[@x castable as xs:date][xs:date(@x) gt xs:date("2000-01-01")]

  To avoid unexpected errors caused by expression rewrite, tests that are designed to prevent dynamic errors should be expressed using conditional expressions. For example, the above expression can be written as follows:

  $N[if (@x castable as xs:date)
     then xs:date(@x) gt xs:date("2000-01-01")
     else false()]

2.4.1 Document Order

An ordering called document order is defined among all the nodes accessible during processing of a given expression, which may consist of one or more trees (documents or fragments). Document order is defined in Section 2.4 Document Order ^DM31, and its definition is repeated here for convenience. Document order is a total ordering, although the relative order of some nodes is implementation-dependent. [Definition: Informally, document order is the order in which nodes appear in the XML serialization of a document.] [Definition: Document order is stable, which means that the relative order of two nodes will not change during the processing of a given expression, even if this order is implementation-dependent.] [Definition: The node ordering that is the reverse of document order is called reverse document order.]

Within a tree, document order satisfies the following constraints:

1. The root node is the first node.

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

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

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

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

6. Children and descendants occur before following siblings.

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

2.4.2 Atomization

The semantics of some XPath 3.1 operators depend on a process called atomization. Atomization is applied to a value when the value is used in a context in which a sequence of atomic values is required. The result of atomization is either a sequence of atomic values or a type error [err:FOTY0012]^FO31. [Definition: Atomization of a sequence is defined as the result of invoking the fn:data function, as defined in Section 2.4 fn:data ^FO31. ]

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

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

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

• If the item is a function^DM31 (other than an array) or map a type error [err:FOTY0013]^FO31 is raised.

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

  Note:

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

Atomization is used in processing the following types of expressions:

• Arithmetic expressions

• Comparison expressions

• Function calls and returns

• Cast expressions

2.4.3 Effective Boolean Value

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

   Note:

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

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

• Logical expressions (and, or)

• The fn:not function

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

• Conditional expressions (if)

• Quantified expressions (some, every)

• General comparisons, in XPath 1.0 compatibility mode.

2.4.4 Input Sources

XPath 3.1 has a set of functions that provide access to XML documents (fn:doc, fn:doc-available), collections (fn:collection, fn:uri-collection), text files (fn:unparsed-text, fn:unparsed-text-lines, fn:unparsed-text-available), and environment variables (fn:environment-variable, fn:available-environment-variables). These functions are defined in Section 14.6 Functions giving access to external information ^FO31.

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

2.4.5 URI Literals

XPath 3.1 requires a statically known, valid URI in a BracedURILiteral. An implementation may raise a static error [err:XQST0046] if the value of a Braced URI Literal is of nonzero length and is neither an absolute URI nor a relative URI.

Whitespace is normalized using the whitespace normalization rules of fn:normalize-space. If the result of whitespace normalization contains only whitespace, the corresponding URI consists of the empty string.

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

2.4.6 Resolving a Relative URI Reference

[Definition: To resolve a relative URI $rel against a base URI $base is to expand it to an absolute URI, as if by calling the function fn:resolve-uri($rel, $base).] During static analysis, the base URI is the Static Base URI. During dynamic evaluation, the base URI used to resolve a relative URI reference depends on the semantics of the expression.

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

2.5.1 Predefined Schema Types

The in-scope schema types in the static context are initialized with a set of predefined schema types that is determined by the host language. This set may include some or all of the schema types in the namespace http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema, represented in this document by the namespace prefix xs. The schema types in this namespace are defined in [XML Schema 1.0] or [XML Schema 1.1] and augmented by additional types defined in [XQuery and XPath Data Model (XDM) 3.1]. An implementation that has based its type system on [XML Schema 1.0] is not required to support the xs:dateTimeStamp or xs:error types.

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

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

2. [Definition: xs:untypedAtomic is an atomic type that is used to denote untyped atomic data, such as text that has not been assigned a more specific type.] An attribute that has been validated in skip mode is represented in the data model by an attribute node with the type annotation xs:untypedAtomic. No predefined schema types are derived from xs:untypedAtomic.

3. [Definition: xs:dayTimeDuration is derived by restriction from xs:duration. The lexical representation of xs:dayTimeDuration is restricted to contain only day, hour, minute, and second components.]

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

5. [Definition: xs:anyAtomicType is an atomic type that includes all atomic values (and no values that are not atomic). Its base type is xs:anySimpleType from which all simple types, including atomic, list, and union types, are derived. All primitive atomic types, such as xs:decimal and xs:string, have xs:anyAtomicType as their base type.]

   Note:

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

6. [Definition: xs:error is a simple type with no value space. It is defined in Section 3.16.7.3 xs:error ^XS11-1 and can be used in the 2.5.4 SequenceType Syntax to raise errors.]

The relationships among the schema types in the xs namespace are illustrated in Figure 2. A more complete description of the XPath 3.1 type hierarchy can be found in Section 1.6 Type System ^FO31.

Figure 2: Hierarchy of Schema Types used in XPath 3.1.

2.5.2 Namespace-sensitive Types

[Definition: The namespace-sensitive types are xs:QName, xs:NOTATION, types derived by restriction from xs:QName or xs:NOTATION, list types that have a namespace-sensitive item type, and union types with a namespace-sensitive type in their transitive membership.]

It is not possible to preserve the type of a namespace-sensitive value without also preserving the namespace binding that defines the meaning of each namespace prefix used in the value. Therefore, XPath 3.1 defines some error conditions that occur only with namespace-sensitive values. For instance, casting to a namespace-sensitive type raises a type error [err:FONS0004]^FO31 if the namespace bindings for the result cannot be determined.

2.5.3 Typed Value and String Value

Every node has a typed value and a string value, except for nodes whose value is absent^DM31. [Definition: The typed value of a node is a sequence of atomic values and can be extracted by applying the Section 2.4 fn:data ^FO31 function to the node.] [Definition: The string value of a node is a string and can be extracted by applying the Section 2.3 fn:string ^FO31 function to the node.]

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

The typed value, string value, and type annotation of a node are closely related. If the node was created by mapping from an Infoset or PSVI, the relationships among these properties are defined by rules in Section 2.7 Schema Information ^DM31.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

      Note:

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

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

   4. If the type annotation denotes a complex type with element-only content, then the typed value of the node is absent^DM31. The fn:data function raises a type error [err:FOTY0012]^FO31 when applied to such a node. The string value of such a node is equal to the concatenated string values of all its text node descendants, in document order.

      Example: E6 is an element node with the type annotation weather, which is a complex type whose content type specifies element-only. E6 has two child elements named temperature and precipitation. The typed value of E6 is absent^DM31, and the fn:data function applied to E6 raises an error.

2.5.4 SequenceType Syntax

Whenever it is necessary to refer to a type in an XPath 3.1 expression, the SequenceType syntax is used.

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

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

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

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

Here are some examples of sequence types that might be used in XPath 3.1:

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

• attribute()? refers to an optional attribute node

• element() refers to any element node

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

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

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

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

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

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

• function(*) refers to any function^DM31, regardless of arity or type

• function(node()) as xs:string* refers to a function^DM31 that takes a single argument whose value is a single node, and returns a sequence of zero or more xs:string values

• (function(node()) as xs:string)* refers to a sequence of zero or more functions^DM31, each of which takes a single argument whose value is a single node, and returns as its result a single xs:string value

2.5.5 SequenceType Matching

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

An XPath 3.1 implementation must be able to determine relationships among the types in type annotations in an XDM instance and the types in the in-scope schema definitions (ISSD).

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

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

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

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

  • AT is ET

  • ET is the base type of AT

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

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

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

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

2.5.6 SequenceType Subtype Relationships

Given two sequence types, it is possible to determine if one is a subtype of the other. [Definition: A sequence type A is a subtype of a sequence type B if the judgement subtype(A, B) is true.] When the judgement subtype(A, B) is true, it is always the case that for any value V, (V instance of A) implies (V instance of B).

2.5.7 xs:error

The type xs:error has an empty value space; it never appears as a dynamic type or as the content type of a dynamic element or attribute type. It was defined in XML Schema in the interests of making the type system complete and closed, and it is also available in XPath 3.1 for similar reasons.

3.1.1 Literals

[Definition: A literal is a direct syntactic representation of an atomic value.] XPath 3.1 supports two kinds of literals: numeric literals and string literals.

The value of a numeric literal containing no "." and no e or E character is an atomic value of type xs:integer. The value of a numeric literal containing "." but no e or E character is an atomic value of type xs:decimal. The value of a numeric literal containing an e or E character is an atomic value of type xs:double. The value of the numeric literal is determined by casting it to the appropriate type according to the rules for casting from xs:untypedAtomic to a numeric type as specified in Section 19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic ^FO31.

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

Here are some examples of literal expressions:

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

• 12 denotes the xs:integer value twelve.

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

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

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

  Note:

  When XPath expressions are embedded in contexts where quotation marks have special significance, such as inside XML attributes, additional escaping may be needed.

The xs:boolean values true and false can be constructed by calls to the built-in functions fn:true() and fn:false(), respectively.

Values of other simple types can be constructed by calling the constructor function for the given type. The constructor functions for XML Schema built-in types are defined in Section 18.1 Constructor functions for XML Schema built-in atomic types ^FO31. In general, the name of a constructor function for a given type is the same as the name of the type (including its namespace). For example:

• xs:integer("12") returns the integer value twelve.

• xs:date("2001-08-25") returns an item whose type is xs:date and whose value represents the date 25th August 2001.

• xs:dayTimeDuration("PT5H") returns an item whose type is xs:dayTimeDuration and whose value represents a duration of five hours.

Constructor functions can also be used to create special values that have no literal representation, as in the following examples:

• xs:float("NaN") returns the special floating-point value, "Not a Number."

• xs:double("INF") returns the special double-precision value, "positive infinity."

Constructor functions are available for all simple types, including union types. For example, if my:dt is a user-defined union type whose member types are xs:date, xs:time, and xs:dateTime, then the expression my:dt("2011-01-10") creates an atomic value of type xs:date. The rules follow XML Schema validation rules for union types: the effect is to choose the first member type that accepts the given string in its lexical space.

It is also possible to construct values of various types by using a cast expression. For example:

• 9 cast as hatsize returns the atomic value 9 whose type is hatsize.

3.1.2 Variable References

[Definition: A variable reference is an EQName preceded by a $-sign.] An unprefixed variable reference is in no namespace. Two variable references are equivalent if their expanded QNames are equal (as defined by the eq operator). The scope of a variable binding is defined separately for each kind of expression that can bind variables.

Every variable reference must match a name in the in-scope variables.

Every variable binding has a static scope. The scope defines where references to the variable can validly occur. It is a static error [err:XPST0008] to reference a variable that is not in scope. If a variable is bound in the static context for an expression, that variable is in scope for the entire expression except where it is occluded by another binding that uses the same name within that scope.

At evaluation time, the value of a variable reference is the value to which the relevant variable is bound.

3.1.3 Parenthesized Expressions

Parentheses may be used to override the precedence rules. For example, the expression (2 + 4) * 5 evaluates to thirty, since the parenthesized expression (2 + 4) is evaluated first and its result is multiplied by five. Without parentheses, the expression 2 + 4 * 5 evaluates to twenty-two, because the multiplication operator has higher precedence than the addition operator.

Empty parentheses are used to denote an empty sequence, as described in 3.4.1 Constructing Sequences.

3.1.4 Context Item Expression

A context item expression evaluates to the context item, which may be either a node (as in the expression fn:doc("bib.xml")/books/book[fn:count(./author)>1]), or an atomic value or function (as in the expression (1 to 100)[. mod 5 eq 0]).

If the context item is absent^DM31, a context item expression raises a dynamic error [err:XPDY0002].

3.1.5 Static Function Calls

[Definition: The built-in functions are the functions defined in [XQuery and XPath Functions and Operators 3.1] in the http://www.w3.org/2005/xpath-functions, http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema, http://www.w3.org/2005/xpath-functions/math, http://www.w3.org/2005/xpath-functions/map, and http://www.w3.org/2005/xpath-functions/array namespaces. ] The set of built-in functions is specified by the host language. Additional functions may be provided in the static context. XPath per se does not provide a way to declare named functions, but a host language may provide such a mechanism.

[Definition: A static function call consists of an EQName followed by a parenthesized list of zero or more arguments.] [Definition: An argument to a function call is either an argument expression or an ArgumentPlaceholder ("?").] If the EQName in a static function call is a lexical QName that has no namespace prefix, it is considered to be in the default function namespace.

If the expanded QName and number of arguments in a static function call do not match the name and arity of a function signature in the static context, a static error is raised [err:XPST0017].

[Definition: A static or dynamic function call is a partial function application if one or more arguments is an ArgumentPlaceholder. ]

Evaluation of function calls is described in 3.1.5.1 Evaluating Static and Dynamic Function Calls.

Since the arguments of a function call are separated by commas, any argument expression that contains a top-level comma operator must be enclosed in parentheses. Here are some illustrative examples of static function calls:

• my:three-argument-function(1, 2, 3) denotes a static function call with three arguments.

• my:two-argument-function((1, 2), 3) denotes a static function call with two arguments, the first of which is a sequence of two values.

• my:two-argument-function(1, ()) denotes a static function call with two arguments, the second of which is an empty sequence.

• my:one-argument-function((1, 2, 3)) denotes a static function call with one argument that is a sequence of three values.

• my:one-argument-function(( )) denotes a static function call with one argument that is an empty sequence.

• my:zero-argument-function( ) denotes a static function call with zero arguments.

let $m := map {
  "Monday" : true(),
  "Wednesday" : true(),
  "Friday" : true(),
  "Saturday" : false(),
  "Sunday" : false()
},
$days := ("Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday", "Saturday", "Sunday")
return fn:filter($days,$m)
      

let $m := map {
"Monday" : true(),
"Tuesday" : false(),
"Wednesday" : true(),
"Thursday" : false(),
"Friday" : true(),
"Saturday" : false(),
"Sunday" : false()
}
let $days := ("Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday", "Saturday", "Sunday")
return fn:filter($days,$m)
      

3.1.6 Named Function References

[Definition: A named function reference is an expression which evaluates to a named function. The name and arity of the returned function are known statically, and correspond to a function signature present in the static context; if the function is context dependent, then the returned function is associated with the static context of the named function reference and the dynamic context in which it is evaluated. ] [Definition: A named function is a function defined in the static context for the expression. To uniquely identify a particular named function, both its name as an expanded QName and its arity are required.]

If the EQName is a lexical QName that has no namespace prefix, it is considered to be in the default function namespace.

If the expanded QName and arity in a named function reference do not match the name and arity of a function signature in the static context, a static error is raised [err:XPST0017].

The value of a NamedFunctionRef is the function obtained by looking up the expanded QName and arity in the named functions component of the dynamic context.

Furthermore, if the function returned by the evaluation of a NamedFunctionRef has an implementation-dependent implementation, then the implementation of this function is associated with the static context of this NamedFunctionRef expression and with the dynamic context in which the NamedFunctionRef is evaluated.

The following are examples of named function references:

• fn:abs#1 references the fn:abs function which takes a single argument.

• fn:concat#5 references the fn:concat function which takes 5 arguments.

• local:myfunc#2 references a function named local:myfunc which takes 2 arguments.

3.1.7 Inline Function Expressions

[Definition: An inline function expression creates an anonymous function defined directly in the inline function expression.] An inline function expression specifies the names and SequenceTypes of the parameters to the function, the SequenceType of the result, and the body of the function. [Definition: An anonymous function is a function with no name. Anonymous functions may be created, for example, by evaluating an inline function expression or by partial function application.]

If a function parameter is declared using a name but no type, its default type is item()*. If the result type is omitted from an inline function expression, its default result type is item()*.

The parameters of an inline function expression are considered to be variables whose scope is the function body. It is a static error [err:XQST0039] for an inline function expression to have more than one parameter with the same name.

The static context for the function body is inherited from the location of the inline function expression, with the exception of the static type of the context item which is initially absent^DM31.

The variables in scope for the function body include all variables representing the function parameters, as well as all variables that are in scope for the inline function expression.

The result of an inline function expression is a single function with the following properties (as defined in Section 2.8.1 Functions ^DM31):

• name: An absent name. Absent.

• parameter names: The parameter names in the InlineFunctionExpr's ParamList.

• signature: A FunctionTest constructed from the SequenceTypes in the InlineFunctionExpr. An implementation which can determine a more specific signature (for example, through use of type analysis of the function's body) is permitted to do so.

• implementation: The InlineFunctionExpr's FunctionBody.

• nonlocal variable bindings: For each nonlocal variable, a binding of it to its value in the variable values component of the dynamic context of the InlineFunctionExpr.

The following are examples of some inline function expressions:

• This example creates a function that takes no arguments and returns a sequence of the first 6 primes:

  function() as xs:integer+ { 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13 }

• This example creates a function that takes two xs:double arguments and returns their product:

  function($a as xs:double, $b as xs:double) as xs:double { $a * $b }

• This example creates a function that returns its item()* argument:

  function($a) { $a }

• This example creates a sequence of functions each of which returns a different item from the default collection.

  collection()/(let $a := . return function() { $a })

3.1.8 Enclosed Expressions

[Definition: An enclosed expression is an instance of the EnclosedExpr production, which allows an optional expression within curly braces.] [Definition: In an enclosed expression, the optional expression enclosed in curly braces is called the content expression.] If the content expression is not provided explicitly, the content expression is ().

3.2.1 Filter Expressions

A filter expression consists of a base expression followed by a predicate, which is an expression written in square brackets. The result of the filter expression consists of the items returned by the base expression, filtered by applying the predicate to each item in turn. The ordering of the items returned by a filter expression is the same as their order in the result of the primary expression.

Here are some examples of filter expressions:

• Given a sequence of products in a variable, return only those products whose price is greater than 100.

  $products[price gt 100]

• List all the integers from 1 to 100 that are divisible by 5. (See 3.4.1 Constructing Sequences for an explanation of the to operator.)

  (1 to 100)[. mod 5 eq 0]

• The result of the following expression is the integer 25:

  (21 to 29)[5]

• The following example returns the fifth through ninth items in the sequence bound to variable $orders.

  $orders[fn:position() = (5 to 9)]

• The following example illustrates the use of a filter expression as a step in a path expression. It returns the last chapter or appendix within the book bound to variable $book:

  $book/(chapter | appendix)[fn:last()]

For each item in the input sequence, the predicate expression is evaluated using an inner focus, defined as follows: The context item is the item currently being tested against the predicate. The context size is the number of items in the input sequence. The context position is the position of the context item within the input sequence.

For each item in the input sequence, the result of the predicate expression is coerced to an xs:boolean value, called the predicate truth value, as described below. Those items for which the predicate truth value is true are retained, and those for which the predicate truth value is false are discarded.

The predicate truth value is derived by applying the following rules, in order:

1. If the value of the predicate expression is a singleton atomic value of a numeric type or derived from a numeric type, the predicate truth value is true if the value of the predicate expression is equal (by the eq operator) to the context position, and is false otherwise.

2. Otherwise, the predicate truth value is the effective boolean value of the predicate expression.

3.2.2 Dynamic Function Calls

[Definition: A dynamic function call consists of a base expression that returns the function and a parenthesized list of zero or more arguments (argument expressions or ArgumentPlaceholders).]

A dynamic function call is evaluated as described in 3.1.5.1 Evaluating Static and Dynamic Function Calls.

The following are examples of some dynamic function calls:

• This example invokes the function contained in $f, passing the arguments 2 and 3:

  $f(2, 3)

• This example fetches the second item from sequence $f, treats it as a function and invokes it, passing an xs:string argument:

  $f[2]("Hi there")

• This example invokes the function $f passing no arguments, and filters the result with a positional predicate:

  $f()[2]

3.3.1 Relative Path Expressions

A relative path expression is a path expression that selects nodes within a tree by following a series of steps starting at the context node (which, unlike an absolute path expression, may be any node in a tree).

Each non-initial occurrence of "//" in a path expression is expanded as described in 3.3.5 Abbreviated Syntax, leaving a sequence of steps separated by "/". This sequence of steps is then evaluated from left to right. So a path such as E1/E2/E3/E4 is evaluated as ((E1/E2)/E3)/E4. The semantics of a path expression are thus defined by the semantics of the binary "/" operator, which is defined in 3.3.1.1 Path operator (/).

The following example illustrates the use of relative path expressions.

E1/E2 ::= let $R := E1!E2
  return
    if (every $r in $R satisfies $r instance of node())
    then ($R|())
    else if (every $r in $R satisfies not($r instance of node()))
    then $R
    else error()

3.3.2 Steps

[Definition: A step is a part of a path expression that generates a sequence of items and then filters the sequence by zero or more predicates. The value of the step consists of those items that satisfy the predicates, working from left to right. A step may be either an axis step or a postfix expression.] Postfix expressions are described in 3.2 Postfix Expressions.

[Definition: An axis step returns a sequence of nodes that are reachable from the context node via a specified axis. Such a step has two parts: an axis, which defines the "direction of movement" for the step, and a node test, which selects nodes based on their kind, name, and/or type annotation.] If the context item is a node, an axis step returns a sequence of zero or more nodes; otherwise, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0020]. The resulting node sequence is returned in document order. An axis step may be either a forward step or a reverse step, followed by zero or more predicates.

In the abbreviated syntax for a step, the axis can be omitted and other shorthand notations can be used as described in 3.3.5 Abbreviated Syntax.

The unabbreviated syntax for an axis step consists of the axis name and node test separated by a double colon. The result of the step consists of the nodes reachable from the context node via the specified axis that have the node kind, name, and/or type annotation specified by the node test. For example, the step child::para selects the para element children of the context node: child is the name of the axis, and para is the name of the element nodes to be selected on this axis. The available axes are described in 3.3.2.1 Axes. The available node tests are described in 3.3.2.2 Node Tests. Examples of steps are provided in 3.3.4 Unabbreviated Syntax and 3.3.5 Abbreviated Syntax.

3.3.3 Predicates within Steps

A predicate within a Step has similar syntax and semantics to a predicate within a filter expression. The only difference is in the way the context position is set for evaluation of the predicate.

For the purpose of evaluating the context position within a predicate, the input sequence is considered to be sorted as follows: into document order if the predicate is in a forward-axis step, into reverse document order if the predicate is in a reverse-axis step, or in its original order if the predicate is not in a step.

Here are some examples of axis steps that contain predicates:

• This example selects the second chapter element that is a child of the context node:

  child::chapter[2]

• This example selects all the descendants of the context node that are elements named "toy" and whose color attribute has the value "red":

  descendant::toy[attribute::color = "red"]

• This example selects all the employee children of the context node that have both a secretary child element and an assistant child element:

  child::employee[secretary][assistant]

3.3.4 Unabbreviated Syntax

This section provides a number of examples of path expressions in which the axis is explicitly specified in each step. The syntax used in these examples is called the unabbreviated syntax. In many common cases, it is possible to write path expressions more concisely using an abbreviated syntax, as explained in 3.3.5 Abbreviated Syntax.

• child::para selects the para element children of the context node

• child::* selects all element children of the context node

• child::text() selects all text node children of the context node

• child::node() selects all the children of the context node. Note that no attribute nodes are returned, because attributes are not children.

• attribute::name selects the name attribute of the context node

• attribute::* selects all the attributes of the context node

• parent::node() selects the parent of the context node. If the context node is an attribute node, this expression returns the element node (if any) to which the attribute node is attached.

• descendant::para selects the para element descendants of the context node

• ancestor::div selects all div ancestors of the context node

• ancestor-or-self::div selects the div ancestors of the context node and, if the context node is a div element, the context node as well

• descendant-or-self::para selects the para element descendants of the context node and, if the context node is a para element, the context node as well

• self::para selects the context node if it is a para element, and otherwise returns an empty sequence

• child::chapter/descendant::para selects the para element descendants of the chapter element children of the context node

• child::*/child::para selects all para grandchildren of the context node

• / selects the root of the tree that contains the context node, but raises a dynamic error if this root is not a document node

• /descendant::para selects all the para elements in the same document as the context node

• /descendant::list/child::member selects all the member elements that have a list parent and that are in the same document as the context node

• child::para[fn:position() = 1] selects the first para child of the context node

• child::para[fn:position() = fn:last()] selects the last para child of the context node

• child::para[fn:position() = fn:last()-1] selects the last but one para child of the context node

• child::para[fn:position() > 1] selects all the para children of the context node other than the first para child of the context node

• following-sibling::chapter[fn:position() = 1] selects the next chapter sibling of the context node

• preceding-sibling::chapter[fn:position() = 1] selects the previous chapter sibling of the context node

• /descendant::figure[fn:position() = 42] selects the forty-second figure element in the document containing the context node

• /child::book/child::chapter[fn:position() = 5]/child::section[fn:position() = 2] selects the second section of the fifth chapter of the book whose parent is the document node that contains the context node

• child::para[attribute::type eq "warning"] selects all para children of the context node that have a type attribute with value warning

• child::para[attribute::type eq 'warning'][fn:position() = 5] selects the fifth para child of the context node that has a type attribute with value warning

• child::para[fn:position() = 5][attribute::type eq "warning"] selects the fifth para child of the context node if that child has a type attribute with value warning

• child::chapter[child::title = 'Introduction'] selects the chapter children of the context node that have one or more title children whose typed value is equal to the string Introduction

• child::chapter[child::title] selects the chapter children of the context node that have one or more title children

• child::*[self::chapter or self::appendix] selects the chapter and appendix children of the context node

• child::*[self::chapter or self::appendix][fn:position() = fn:last()] selects the last chapter or appendix child of the context node

3.3.5 Abbreviated Syntax

The abbreviated syntax permits the following abbreviations:

1. The attribute axis attribute:: can be abbreviated by @. For example, a path expression para[@type="warning"] is short for child::para[attribute::type="warning"] and so selects para children with a type attribute with value equal to warning.

2. If the axis name is omitted from an axis step, the default axis is child, with two exceptions: (1) if the NodeTest in an axis step contains an AttributeTest or SchemaAttributeTest then the default axis is attribute; (2) if the NodeTest in an axis step is a NamespaceNodeTest then the default axis is namespace - in an implementation that does not support the namespace axis, an error is raised [err:XQST0134].

   Note:

   The namespace axis is deprecated as of XPath 2.0, but required in some languages that use XPath, including XSLT.

   For example, the path expression section/para is an abbreviation for child::section/child::para, and the path expression section/@id is an abbreviation for child::section/attribute::id. Similarly, section/attribute(id) is an abbreviation for child::section/attribute::attribute(id). Note that the latter expression contains both an axis specification and a node test.

3. Each non-initial occurrence of // is effectively replaced by /descendant-or-self::node()/ during processing of a path expression. For example, div1//para is short for child::div1/descendant-or-self::node()/child::para and so will select all para descendants of div1 children.

   Note:

   The path expression //para[1] does not mean the same as the path expression /descendant::para[1]. The latter selects the first descendant para element; the former selects all descendant para elements that are the first para children of their respective parents.

4. A step consisting of .. is short for parent::node(). For example, ../title is short for parent::node()/child::title and so will select the title children of the parent of the context node.

   Note:

   The expression ., known as a context item expression, is a primary expression, and is described in 3.1.4 Context Item Expression.

Here are some examples of path expressions that use the abbreviated syntax:

• para selects the para element children of the context node

• * selects all element children of the context node

• text() selects all text node children of the context node

• @name selects the name attribute of the context node

• @* selects all the attributes of the context node

• para[1] selects the first para child of the context node

• para[fn:last()] selects the last para child of the context node

• */para selects all para grandchildren of the context node

• /book/chapter[5]/section[2] selects the second section of the fifth chapter of the book whose parent is the document node that contains the context node

• chapter//para selects the para element descendants of the chapter element children of the context node

• //para selects all the para descendants of the root document node and thus selects all para elements in the same document as the context node

• //@version selects all the version attribute nodes that are in the same document as the context node

• //list/member selects all the member elements in the same document as the context node that have a list parent

• .//para selects the para element descendants of the context node

• .. selects the parent of the context node

• ../@lang selects the lang attribute of the parent of the context node

• para[@type="warning"] selects all para children of the context node that have a type attribute with value warning

• para[@type="warning"][5] selects the fifth para child of the context node that has a type attribute with value warning

• para[5][@type="warning"] selects the fifth para child of the context node if that child has a type attribute with value warning

• chapter[title="Introduction"] selects the chapter children of the context node that have one or more title children whose typed value is equal to the string Introduction

• chapter[title] selects the chapter children of the context node that have one or more title children

• employee[@secretary and @assistant] selects all the employee children of the context node that have both a secretary attribute and an assistant attribute

• book/(chapter|appendix)/section selects every section element that has a parent that is either a chapter or an appendix element, that in turn is a child of a book element that is a child of the context node.

• If E is any expression that returns a sequence of nodes, then the expression E/. returns the same nodes in document order, with duplicates eliminated based on node identity.

3.4.1 Constructing Sequences

[Definition: One way to construct a sequence is by using the comma operator, which evaluates each of its operands and concatenates the resulting sequences, in order, into a single result sequence.] Empty parentheses can be used to denote an empty sequence.

A sequence may contain duplicate items, but a sequence is never an item in another sequence. When a new sequence is created by concatenating two or more input sequences, the new sequence contains all the items of the input sequences and its length is the sum of the lengths of the input sequences.

Here are some examples of expressions that construct sequences:

• The result of this expression is a sequence of five integers:

  (10, 1, 2, 3, 4)

• This expression combines four sequences of length one, two, zero, and two, respectively, into a single sequence of length five. The result of this expression is the sequence 10, 1, 2, 3, 4.

  (10, (1, 2), (), (3, 4))

• The result of this expression is a sequence containing all salary children of the context node followed by all bonus children.

  (salary, bonus)

• Assuming that $price is bound to the value 10.50, the result of this expression is the sequence 10.50, 10.50.

  ($price, $price)

A range expression can be used to construct a sequence of consecutive integers. Each of the operands of the to operator is converted as though it was an argument of a function with the expected parameter type xs:integer?. If either operand is an empty sequence, or if the integer derived from the first operand is greater than the integer derived from the second operand, the result of the range expression is an empty sequence. If the two operands convert to the same integer, the result of the range expression is that integer. Otherwise, the result is a sequence containing the two integer operands and every integer between the two operands, in increasing order.

• This example uses a range expression as one operand in constructing a sequence. It evaluates to the sequence 10, 1, 2, 3, 4.

  (10, 1 to 4)

• This example constructs a sequence of length one containing the single integer 10.

  10 to 10

• The result of this example is a sequence of length zero.

  15 to 10

• This example uses the fn:reverse function to construct a sequence of six integers in decreasing order. It evaluates to the sequence 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10.

  fn:reverse(10 to 15)

3.4.2 Combining Node Sequences

XPath 3.1 provides the following operators for combining sequences of nodes:

• The union and | operators are equivalent. They take two node sequences as operands and return a sequence containing all the nodes that occur in either of the operands.

• The intersect operator takes two node sequences as operands and returns a sequence containing all the nodes that occur in both operands.

• The except operator takes two node sequences as operands and returns a sequence containing all the nodes that occur in the first operand but not in the second operand.

All these operators eliminate duplicate nodes from their result sequences based on node identity. The resulting sequence is returned in document order.

If an operand of union, intersect, or except contains an item that is not a node, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004].

If an IntersectExceptExpr contains more than two InstanceofExprs, they are grouped from left to right. With a UnionExpr, it makes no difference how operands are grouped, the results are the same.

In addition to the sequence operators described here, see Section 14 Functions and operators on sequences ^FO31 for functions defined on sequences.

3.7.1 Value Comparisons

The value comparison operators are eq, ne, lt, le, gt, and ge. Value comparisons are used for comparing single values.

The first step in evaluating a value comparison is to evaluate its operands. The order in which the operands are evaluated is implementation-dependent. Each operand is evaluated by applying the following steps, in order:

1. Atomization is applied to each operand. The result of this operation is called the atomized operand.

2. If an atomized operand is an empty sequence, the result of the value comparison is an empty sequence, and the implementation need not evaluate the other operand or apply the operator. However, an implementation may choose to evaluate the other operand in order to determine whether it raises an error.

3. If an atomized operand is a sequence of length greater than one, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004].

4. If an atomized operand is of type xs:untypedAtomic, it is cast to xs:string.

   Note:

   The purpose of this rule is to make value comparisons transitive. Users should be aware that the general comparison operators have a different rule for casting of xs:untypedAtomic operands. Users should also be aware that transitivity of value comparisons may be compromised by loss of precision during type conversion (for example, two xs:integer values that differ slightly may both be considered equal to the same xs:float value because xs:float has less precision than xs:integer).

5. If the two operands are instances of different primitive types (meaning the 19 primitive types defined in Section 3.2 Primitive datatypes^XS2), then:

   1. If each operand is an instance of one of the types xs:string or xs:anyURI, then both operands are cast to type xs:string.

   2. If each operand is an instance of one of the types xs:decimal or xs:float, then both operands are cast to type xs:float.

   3. If each operand is an instance of one of the types xs:decimal, xs:float, or xs:double, then both operands are cast to type xs:double.

   4. Otherwise, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004].

      Note:

      The primitive type of an xs:integer value for this purpose is xs:decimal.

6. Finally, if the types of the operands are a valid combination for the given operator, the operator is applied to the operands.

The combinations of atomic types that are accepted by the various value comparison operators, and their respective result types, are listed in B.2 Operator Mapping together with the operator functions that define the semantics of the operator for each type combination. The definitions of the operator functions are found in [XQuery and XPath Functions and Operators 3.1].

Informally, if both atomized operands consist of exactly one atomic value, then the result of the comparison is true if the value of the first operand is (equal, not equal, less than, less than or equal, greater than, greater than or equal) to the value of the second operand; otherwise the result of the comparison is false.

If the types of the operands, after evaluation, are not a valid combination for the given operator, according to the rules in B.2 Operator Mapping, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004].

Here are some examples of value comparisons:

• The following comparison atomizes the node(s) that are returned by the expression $book/author. The comparison is true only if the result of atomization is the value "Kennedy" as an instance of xs:string or xs:untypedAtomic. If the result of atomization is an empty sequence, the result of the comparison is an empty sequence. If the result of atomization is a sequence containing more than one value, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004].

  $book1/author eq "Kennedy"

• The following comparison is true because atomization converts an array to its member sequence:

  [ "Kennedy" ] eq "Kennedy"

• The following path expression contains a predicate that selects products whose weight is greater than 100. For any product that does not have a weight subelement, the value of the predicate is the empty sequence, and the product is not selected. This example assumes that weight is a validated element with a numeric type.

  //product[weight gt 100]

• The following comparison is true if my:hatsize and my:shoesize are both user-defined types that are derived by restriction from a primitive numeric type:

  my:hatsize(5) eq my:shoesize(5)

• The following comparison is true. The eq operator compares two QNames by performing codepoint-comparisons of their namespace URIs and their local names, ignoring their namespace prefixes.

  fn:QName("http://example.com/ns1", "this:color") eq fn:QName("http://example.com/ns1", "that:color")

3.7.2 General Comparisons

The general comparison operators are =, !=, <, <=, >, and >=. General comparisons are existentially quantified comparisons that may be applied to operand sequences of any length. The result of a general comparison that does not raise an error is always true or false.

If XPath 1.0 compatibility mode is true, a general comparison is evaluated by applying the following rules, in order:

1. If either operand is a single atomic value that is an instance of xs:boolean, then the other operand is converted to xs:boolean by taking its effective boolean value.

2. Atomization is applied to each operand. After atomization, each operand is a sequence of atomic values.

3. If the comparison operator is <, <=, >, or >=, then each item in both of the operand sequences is converted to the type xs:double by applying the fn:number function. (Note that fn:number returns the value NaN if its operand cannot be converted to a number.)

4. The result of the comparison is true if and only if there is a pair of atomic values, one in the first operand sequence and the other in the second operand sequence, that have the required magnitude relationship. Otherwise the result of the comparison is false or an error. The magnitude relationship between two atomic values is determined by applying the following rules. If a cast operation called for by these rules is not successful, a dynamic error is raised. [err:FORG0001]^FO31

   1. If at least one of the two atomic values is an instance of a numeric type, then both atomic values are converted to the type xs:double by applying the fn:number function.

   2. If at least one of the two atomic values is an instance of xs:string, or if both atomic values are instances of xs:untypedAtomic, then both atomic values are cast to the type xs:string.

   3. If one of the atomic values is an instance of xs:untypedAtomic and the other is not an instance of xs:string, xs:untypedAtomic, or any numeric type, then the xs:untypedAtomic value is cast to the dynamic type of the other value.

   4. After performing the conversions described above, the atomic values are compared using one of the value comparison operators eq, ne, lt, le, gt, or ge, depending on whether the general comparison operator was =, !=, <, <=, >, or >=. The values have the required magnitude relationship if and only if the result of this value comparison is true.

If XPath 1.0 compatibility mode is false, a general comparison is evaluated by applying the following rules, in order:

1. Atomization is applied to each operand. After atomization, each operand is a sequence of atomic values.

2. The result of the comparison is true if and only if there is a pair of atomic values, one in the first operand sequence and the other in the second operand sequence, that have the required magnitude relationship. Otherwise the result of the comparison is false or an error. The magnitude relationship between two atomic values is determined by applying the following rules. If a cast operation called for by these rules is not successful, a dynamic error is raised. [err:FORG0001]^FO31

   1. If both atomic values are instances of xs:untypedAtomic, then the values are cast to the type xs:string.

   2. If exactly one of the atomic values is an instance of xs:untypedAtomic, it is cast to a type depending on the other value's dynamic type T according to the following rules, in which V denotes the value to be cast:

      1. If T is a numeric type or is derived from a numeric type, then V is cast to xs:double.

      2. If T is xs:dayTimeDuration or is derived from xs:dayTimeDuration, then V is cast to xs:dayTimeDuration.

      3. If T is xs:yearMonthDuration or is derived from xs:yearMonthDuration, then V is cast to xs:yearMonthDuration.

      4. In all other cases, V is cast to the primitive base type of T.

      Note:

      The special treatment of the duration types is required to avoid errors that may arise when comparing the primitive type xs:duration with any duration type.

   3. After performing the conversions described above, the atomic values are compared using one of the value comparison operators eq, ne, lt, le, gt, or ge, depending on whether the general comparison operator was =, !=, <, <=, >, or >=. The values have the required magnitude relationship if and only if the result of this value comparison is true.

When evaluating a general comparison in which either operand is a sequence of items, an implementation may return true as soon as it finds an item in the first operand and an item in the second operand that have the required magnitude relationship. Similarly, a general comparison may raise a dynamic error as soon as it encounters an error in evaluating either operand, or in comparing a pair of items from the two operands. As a result of these rules, the result of a general comparison is not deterministic in the presence of errors.

Here are some examples of general comparisons:

• The following comparison is true if the typed value of any author subelement of $book1 is "Kennedy" as an instance of xs:string or xs:untypedAtomic:

  $book1/author = "Kennedy"

• The following comparison is true because atomization converts an array to its member sequence:

  [ "Obama", "Nixon", "Kennedy" ] = "Kennedy"

• The following example contains three general comparisons. The value of the first two comparisons is true, and the value of the third comparison is false. This example illustrates the fact that general comparisons are not transitive.

  (1, 2) = (2, 3)
  (2, 3) = (3, 4)
  (1, 2) = (3, 4)

• The following example contains two general comparisons, both of which are true. This example illustrates the fact that the = and != operators are not inverses of each other.

  (1, 2) = (2, 3)
  (1, 2) != (2, 3)

• Suppose that $a, $b, and $c are bound to element nodes with type annotation xs:untypedAtomic, with string values "1", "2", and "2.0" respectively. Then ($a, $b) = ($c, 3.0) returns false, because $b and $c are compared as strings. However, ($a, $b) = ($c, 2.0) returns true, because $b and 2.0 are compared as numbers.

3.7.3 Node Comparisons

Node comparisons are used to compare two nodes, by their identity or by their document order. The result of a node comparison is defined by the following rules:

1. The operands of a node comparison are evaluated in implementation-dependent order.

2. If either operand is an empty sequence, the result of the comparison is an empty sequence, and the implementation need not evaluate the other operand or apply the operator. However, an implementation may choose to evaluate the other operand in order to determine whether it raises an error.

3. Each operand must be either a single node or an empty sequence; otherwise a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004].

4. A comparison with the is operator is true if the two operand nodes are the same node; otherwise it is false. See [XQuery and XPath Data Model (XDM) 3.1] for the definition of node identity.

5. A comparison with the << operator returns true if the left operand node precedes the right operand node in document order; otherwise it returns false.

6. A comparison with the >> operator returns true if the left operand node follows the right operand node in document order; otherwise it returns false.

Here are some examples of node comparisons:

• The following comparison is true only if the left and right sides each evaluate to exactly the same single node:

  /books/book[isbn="1558604820"] is /books/book[call="QA76.9 C3845"]

• The following comparison is true only if the node identified by the left side occurs before the node identified by the right side in document order:

  /transactions/purchase[parcel="28-451"] << /transactions/sale[parcel="33-870"]

3.11.1 Maps

[Definition: A map is a function that associates a set of keys with values, resulting in a collection of key / value pairs.] [Definition: Each key / value pair in a map is called an entry.] [Definition: The value associated with a given key is called the associated value of the key.]

    map{a:b:c}
    map{a:*:c}
    map{*:b:c}