How to navigate an XML document with Xpath using a namespace?

Question

this sample from the w3 schools site is easy enough to extract data from with xpath:

> 
> open bookstore
Database 'bookstore' was opened in 0.03 ms.
> 
> xquery /bookstore/book[@category="web"]/author
<author>James McGovern</author>
<author>Per Bothner</author>
<author>Kurt Cagle</author>
<author>James Linn</author>
<author>Vaidyanathan Nagarajan</author>
<author>Erik T. Ray</author>
Query executed in 9.07 ms.
> 
> xquery .
<bookstore>
  <book category="cooking">
    <title lang="en">Everyday Italian</title>
    <author>Giada De Laurentiis</author>
    <year>2005</year>
    <price>30.00</price>
  </book>
  <book category="children">
    <title lang="en">Harry Potter</title>
    <author>J K. Rowling</author>
    <year>2005</year>
    <price>29.99</price>
  </book>
  <book category="web">
    <title lang="en">XQuery Kick Start</title>
    <author>James McGovern</author>
    <author>Per Bothner</author>
    <author>Kurt Cagle</author>
    <author>James Linn</author>
    <author>Vaidyanathan Nagarajan</author>
    <year>2003</year>
    <price>49.99</price>
  </book>
  <book category="web">
    <title lang="en">Learning XML</title>
    <author>Erik T. Ray</author>
    <year>2003</year>
    <price>39.95</price>
  </book>
</bookstore>
Query executed in 1.04 ms.
>

but this xml is somehow different:

> 
> open sample
Database 'sample' was opened in 0.03 ms.
> 
> xquery .
<Objs xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/powershell/2004/04" Version="1.1.0.1">
  <Obj RefId="0">
    <TN RefId="0">
      <T>System.Management.Automation.PSCustomObject</T>
      <T>System.Object</T>
    </TN>
    <MS>
      <S N="First Name">a</S>
      <S N="Last Name">b</S>
      <S N="Emails">a@b;b@a.com</S>
      <S N="Phones">123 456-8904</S>
      <S N="Company Name"/>
    </MS>
  </Obj>
  <Obj RefId="1">
    <TNRef RefId="0"/>
    <MS>
      <S N="First Name">c</S>
      <S N="Last Name">c</S>
      <S N="Emails">e@f.com</S>
      <S N="Phones">123456-3532;563 346-3453</S>
      <S N="Company Name"/>
    </MS>
  </Obj>
</Objs>
Query executed in 1.06 ms.
> 
> xquery /Objs

Query executed in 0.61 ms.
>

this due to the namespace? How can I "drill down" with xpath for this sample data above?

A search for "XPath default namespace" gives you about 1800 answers to this question. I've chosen one of them, fairly arbitrarily, as a duplicate. If it doesn't answer all your concerns, look at some of the others. — Michael Kay, Dec 10 '20 at 10:30

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 10 '20 at 10:08

partial solution:

> 
> xquery /*:Objs
<Objs xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/powershell/2004/04" Version="1.1.0.1">
  <Obj RefId="0">
    <TN RefId="0">
      <T>System.Management.Automation.PSCustomObject</T>
      <T>System.Object</T>
    </TN>
    <MS>
      <S N="First Name">a</S>
      <S N="Last Name">b</S>
      <S N="Emails">a@b;b@a.com</S>
      <S N="Phones">123 456-8904</S>
      <S N="Company Name"/>
    </MS>
  </Obj>
  <Obj RefId="1">
    <TNRef RefId="0"/>
    <MS>
      <S N="First Name">c</S>
      <S N="Last Name">c</S>
      <S N="Emails">e@f.com</S>
      <S N="Phones">123456-3532;563 346-3453</S>
      <S N="Company Name"/>
    </MS>
  </Obj>
</Objs>
Query executed in 1.12 ms.
>

although not quite clear on how to further "drill down" with xpath here to child nodes and attributes.

How to navigate an XML document with Xpath using a namespace?

1 Answers1