EXISTSNODE

Syntax

existsnode::=

Text description of existsnode

Purpose

The EXISTSNODE function determines whether traversal of the document using the path results in any nodes. It takes as arguments the XMLType instance containing an XML document and a VARCHAR2 string designating a path.

The return value is NUMBER:

• 0 if no nodes remain after applying the XPath traversal on the document

• >0 if any nodes remain.

Example

The following example tests for the existence of the /Warehouse/Dock node in the warehouse_spec column XML path of the sample table oe.warehouses:

SELECT warehouse_id, EXISTSNODE(warehouse_spec, '/Warehouse/Docks')
   "Loading Docks"
   FROM warehouses
   WHERE warehouse_spec IS NOT NULL;

WAREHOUSE_ID Loading Docks
------------ -------------
           1             1
           2             1
           3             1
           4             1