XQuery all files under a specific directory?

Question

Can I use XQuery to query all XML files under a specific directory? All the XML files have the same structure.

Also, from what I have seen you can XQuery many files but you need to write the names of them in the query. In my case, I need to query 500 XML files with quite different names each. So Is there a way I can say:

for $x in doc("ALL files under a specific directory")/Foo
return $x/Something

Neeley

Good question, +1. See my answer for a complete and probably the shortest and most standard solution. – Aeneous

I wanted to go into subfolders. I found this option for the collection function in the DataDirect web site: '?select=*.xml;recurse=yes' – Drench

Answer 1

Use the collection() function.

In its Saxon implementation, one can use:

collection('file:///a/b/c/d?select=*.xml')

Aeneous

Zorba collection documentation here – Washhouse

Answer 2

For MarkLogic:

for $x in cts:search(fn:doc()/Foo, cts:directory-query("/target/directory/"))
return $x/Something

Gloaming

Answer 3

Use the collection() function.

In its Saxon implementation, one can use: collection('file:///a/b/c/d?select=*.xml')

I tried this example under Windows 7 with Saxon HE 9.5.1.5J. The URI then takes a different form, for example: file:/C:/work/GIT/managedSoftwareDoc/experimenting/xQuery?select=*.xml

Hieroglyphic