xpath_list() function

Started by Andy Daleabout 19 years ago4 messagesgeneral
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#1Andy Dale
andy.dale@gmail.com

Hi,

I have installed xml2 contrib to my postgreSQL 8.1.4 install. The
functionality it offer when working with xml files is really good, but i
currently experiencing a few issues with the xpath_list function and a
simple test.

I took a simple xml file (the one described in the PostgreSQL book by Korry
and Susan Douglas), just for testing purposes added an extra film with 2
year tags containing the values 1972 and 1973 . I can extract this
information with the xpath_list function which returns the following

testdb=# SELECT film_name, xpath_list(description, 'year') FROM filminfo;
film_name | xpath_list
--------------- +------------
Casablanca | 1942
Rear Window | 1954
The Godfather | 1972
Test film | 1973,1972

It would seem reasonable in this example that the 1973,1972 gained from
xpath_list could be reused in a WHERE clause like so

SELECT film_name WHERE '1973' IN (xpath_list(description, 'year'));

But the xpath_list function returns a single string
so the above query returns no rows. I can not find a way of splitting
the values returned from xpath_list
so that they can be used in an IN ()
clause, can anybody point me in the right direction for a method that can
split the result, or offer me some advice on how to achieve it.

Thanks in advance,

Andy

#2George Weaver
gweaver@shaw.ca
In reply to: Andy Dale (#1)
Re: xpath_list() function

Original Message From Andy Dale

Hi,

testdb=# SELECT film_name, xpath_list(description, 'year') FROM filminfo;
film_name | xpath_list
--------------- +------------
Casablanca | 1942
Rear Window | 1954
The Godfather | 1972
Test film | 1973,1972

It would seem reasonable in this example that the 1973,1972 gained from
xpath_list could be reused in a WHERE clause like so

SELECT film_name WHERE '1973' IN (xpath_list(description, 'year'));

How about SELECT film_name WHERE (ARRAY['1973'] <@
STRING_TO_ARRAY((xpath_list(description, 'year')), ',' ); ?

(not tested...)

Regards,
George

#3Andy Dale
andy.dale@gmail.com
In reply to: George Weaver (#2)
Re: xpath_list() function

Hi,

Unfortunately the suggestion by Geogre did not work, but i solved it like
so:

SELECT film_name FROM filminfo
WHERE '1973' = ANY (STRING_TO_ARRAY((xpath_list(description, 'year')),','))

Thanks,

Andy

Show quoted text

On 22/03/07, George Weaver <gweaver@shaw.ca> wrote:

Original Message From Andy Dale

Hi,

testdb=# SELECT film_name, xpath_list(description, 'year') FROM filminfo;
film_name | xpath_list
--------------- +------------
Casablanca | 1942
Rear Window | 1954
The Godfather | 1972
Test film | 1973,1972

It would seem reasonable in this example that the 1973,1972 gained from
xpath_list could be reused in a WHERE clause like so

SELECT film_name WHERE '1973' IN (xpath_list(description, 'year'));

How about SELECT film_name WHERE (ARRAY['1973'] <@
STRING_TO_ARRAY((xpath_list(description, 'year')), ',' ); ?

(not tested...)

Regards,
George

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#4Arturo Perez
aperez@hayesinc.com
In reply to: Andy Dale (#1)
Re: xpath_list() function

On Thu, 22 Mar 2007 14:36:32 +0100, Andy Dale wrote:

testdb=# SELECT film_name, xpath_list(description, 'year') FROM filminfo;
film_name | xpath_list
--------------- +------------
Casablanca | 1942
Rear Window | 1954
The Godfather | 1972
Test film | 1973,1972

It would seem reasonable in this example that the 1973,1972 gained from
xpath_list could be reused in a WHERE clause like so

SELECT film_name WHERE '1973' IN (xpath_list(description, 'year'));

But the xpath_list function returns a single string so the above query
returns no rows. I can not find a way of splitting the values returned
from xpath_list
so that they can be used in an IN ()
clause, can anybody point me in the right direction for

For that you're supposed to use xpath_table. I forget the exact syntax
but you end up doing something like

select film_name from
(select xpath_table(...) as FILMS)
where film_year = 1973.

-arturo