INPATH

Use this operator to do path searching in XML documents. This operator is like the WITHIN operator except that the right-hand side is a parentheses enclosed path, rather than a single section name.

Your index must be created with the PATH_SECTION_GROUP for the INPATH operator to work.

Syntax

The INPATH operator has the following syntax:

Top-Level Tag Searching

Syntax	Description
term INPATH (/A) term INPATH (A)	Returns documents that have term within the top-level tags <A> and </A>. The A tag must be a top-level tag, which is the document-type tag.

Any-Level Tag Searching

Syntax	Description
term INPATH (//A)	Returns documents that have term in the <A> tag at any level. This query is the same as 'term WITHIN A'

Direct Parentage Path Searching

Syntax	Description
term INPATH (A/B)	Returns documents where term appears in a B element which is a direct child of a top-level A element. For example, a document containing <A><B>term</B></A> is returned.

Single-Level Wildcard Searching

Syntax	Description
term INPATH (A/*/B)	Returns documents where term appears in a B element which is a grandchild (two levels down) of a top-level A element. For example a document containing <A><D><B>term</B></D></A> is returned.

Multi-level Wildcard Searching

Syntax	Description
term INPATH (A/*/B/*/*/C)	Returns documents where term appears in a C element which is 3 levels down from a B element which is two levels down (grandchild) of a top-level A element.

Any-Level Descendant Searching

Syntax	Description
term INPATH(A//B)	Returns documents where term appears in a B element which is some descendant (any level) of a top-level A element.

Attribute Searching

Syntax	Description
term INPATH (//A/@B)	Returns documents where term appears in the B attribute of an A element at any level. Attributes must be bound to a direct parent.

Descendant/Attribute Existence Testing

Syntax	Description
term INPATH (A[B])	Returns documents where term appears in a top-level A element which has a B element as a direct child.
term INPATH (A[.//B])	Returns documents where term appears in a top-level A element which has a B element as a descendant at any level.
term INPATH (//A[@B])	Finds documents where term appears in an A element at any level which has a B attribute. Attributes must be tied to a direct parent.

Attribute Value Testing

Syntax	Description
term INPATH (A[@B = "value"])	Finds all documents where term appears in a top-level A element which has a B attribute whose value is value.
term INPATH (A[@B != "value"])	Finds all documents where term appears in a top-level A element which has a B attribute whose value is not value.

Tag Value Testing

Syntax	Description
term INPATH (A[B = "value"]))	Returns documents where term appears in an A tag which has a B tag whose value is value.

Not

Syntax	Description
term INPATH (A[NOT(B)])	Finds documents where term appears in a top-level A element which does not have a B element as an immediate child.

AND and OR Testing

Syntax	Description
term INPATH (A[B and C])	Finds documents where term appears in a top-level A element which has a B and a C element as an immediate child.
term INPATH (A[B and @C="value"]])	Finds documents where term appears in a top-level A element which has a B element and a C attribute whose value is value.
term INPATH (A [B OR C])	Finds documents where term appears in a top-level A element which has a B element or a C element.

Combining Path and Node Tests

Syntax	Description
term INPATH (A[@B = "value"]/C/D)	Returns documents where term appears in aD element which is the child of a C element, which is the child of a top-level A element with a B attribute whose value is value.

Nested INPATH

You can nest the entire INPATH expression in another INPATH expression as follows:

(dog INPATH (//A/B/C) INPATH (D)

When you do so, the two INPATH paths are completely independent. The outer INPATH path does not change the context node of the inner INPATH path. For example:

(dog INPATH (A)) INPATH (D)

never finds any documents, because the inner INPATH is looking for dog within the top-level tag A, and the outer INPATH constrains that to document with top-level tag D. A document can have only one top-level tag, so this expression never finds any documents.

Case-Sensitivity

Tags and attribute names in path searching are case-sensitive. That is,

dog INPATH (A)

finds <A>dog</A> but does not find <a>dog</a>. Instead use

dog INPATH (a)

Examples

Top-Level Tag Searching

To find all documents that contain the term dog in the top-level tag <A>:

dog INPATH (/A)

or

dog INPATH(A)

Any-Level Tag Searching

To find all documents that contain the term dog in the <A> tag at any level:

dog INPATH(//A)

This query finds the following documents:

<A>dog</A>

and

<A><B><C>dog</C></B></A>

Direct Parentage Searching

To find all documents that contain the term dog in a B element that is a direct child of a top-level A element:

dog INPATH(A/B)

This query finds the following XML document:

<A><B>My dog is friendly.</B><A>

but does not find:

<C><B>My dog is friendly.</B></C>

Tag Value Testing

You can test the value of tags. For example, the query:

dog INPATH(A[B="dog"])

Finds the following document:

<A><B>dog</B></A>

But does not find:

<A><B>My dog is friendly.</B></A>

Attribute Searching

You can search the content of attributes. For example, the query:

dog INPATH(//A/@B)

Finds the document

<C><A  B="snoop dog"> </A> </C>

Attribute Value Testing

You can test the value of attributes. For example, the query

California INPATH (//A[@B = "home address"])

Finds the document:

<A B="home address">San Francisco, California, USA</A>

But does not find:

<A B="work address">San Francisco, California, USA</A>

Path Testing

You can test if a path exists with the HASPATH operator. For example, the query:

HASPATH(A/B/C)

finds and returns a score of 100 for the document

<A><B><C>dog</C></B></A>

without the query having to reference dog at all.

Limitations

Testing for Equality

The following is an example of an INPATH equality test.

dog INPATH (A[@B = "foo"])

The following limitations apply for these expressions:

• Only equality and inequality are supported. Range operators and functions are not supported.

• The left hand side of the equality must be an attribute. Tags and literals here are not allowed.

• The right hand side of the equality must be a literal. Tags and attributes here are not allowed.

• The test for equality depends on your lexer settings. With the default settings, the query

  dog INPATH (A[@B= "pot of gold"])
  
  

  matches the following sections:

  <A B="POT OF GOLD">dog</A>
  

  and

  <A B="pot of gold">dog</A>
  

  because lexer is case-insensitive by default.

  <A B="POT BLACK GOLD">dog</A>
  

  because OF is a default stopword in English and the query matches any word in that position.

  <A B="POT_OF_GOLD">dog</A>
  

  because the underscore character is not a join character by default.