• Chapter 1: Getting Started with Stylus Studio
• Chapter 2: Editing and Querying XML
• Chapter 3: Converting Non-XML Files to XML
• Chapter 4: Working with XSLT
• Chapter 5: Creating XSLT Using the XSLT Mapper
• Chapter 6: Debugging Stylesheets
• Chapter 7: Defining XML Schemas
• Chapter 8: Defining Document Type Definitions
• Chapter 9: Writing XPath Expressions
  • About the XPath Processor
  • Sample Data for Examples and Testing
  • Getting Started with Queries
  • Specifying the Nodes to Evaluate
  • Handling Strings and Text
  • Specifying Boolean Expressions and Functions
  • Specifying Number Operations and Functions
  • Comparing Values
  • Finding a Particular Node
  • Obtaining a Union
  • Obtaining Information About a Node or a Node Set
  • Using XPath Expressions in Stylesheets
  • Accessing Other Documents During Query Execution
  • XPath Quick Reference
• Chapter 10: Working with XQuery in Stylus Studio
• Chapter 11: Composing Web Service Calls
• Chapter 12: Accessing Relational Data as XML
• Chapter 13: Extending Stylus Studio
• Chapter 14: Stylus Studio Reference

Home > Online Product Documentation > Table of Contents > Specifying Attributes in Queries

Specifying Attributes in Queries

To specify an attribute name in a query, precede the attribute name with an at sign (@). The XPath processor treats elements and attributes in the same way wherever possible. For example:

//@style
               

            

This query returns the style attributes associated with the magazine, the three books, and the my:book element. That is, it returns all the style attributes in the document. It does not return the elements that contain the attributes.

Following is another query that includes an attribute:

/bookstore/book/@style
               

            

This query returns the three style attributes for the three book elements.

The following query returns the style attribute of the context node:

@style 
               

            

If the context node does not have a style attribute, the result set is empty.

The next query returns the exchange attribute on price elements in the current context:

price/@exchange 
               

            

Following is an example that is not valid because attributes cannot have subelements:

price/@exchange/total 
               

            

Following is a query that finds the style attribute for all book elements in the document:

//book/@style 
               

            

Restrictions

Attributes cannot contain subelements. Consequently, you cannot apply a path operator to an attribute. If you try to, you receive a syntax error.

Attributes are inherently unordered. Consequently, you cannot apply a position number to an attribute. If you try to, you receive a syntax error.

Attributes and Wildcards

You can use an at sign (@) and asterisk (*) together to retrieve a collection of attributes. For example, the following query finds all attributes in the current context:

@*