Syntax

Description of the illustration xmlserialize.eps

(datatype::=)

Purpose

XMLSerialize creates a string or LOB containing the contents of value_expr.

Any lob returned by XMLSERIALIZE will be read-only.

If you specify DOCUMENT, then the value_expr must be a valid XML document.

If you specify CONTENT, then the value_expr need not be a singly rooted XML document. However it must be valid XML content.

datatype

The datatype specified can be:

• VARCHAR2 or VARCHAR, but not NVARCHAR2

• BLOB, or CLOB with options reference or value. The default is reference.

• With BLOB, you can specify the ENCODING clause to use the specified encoding in the prolog. The xml_encoding_spec is an XML encoding declaration (encoding="...").

The default type is CLOB.

Specify the VERSION clause to use the version you provide as string_literal in the XML declaration (<?xml version="..." ...?>).

Specify NO INDENT to strip all insignificant whitespace from the output. Specify INDENT SIZE = N, where N is a whole number, for output that is pretty-printed using a relative indentation of N spaces. If N is 0, then pretty-printing inserts a newline character after each element, placing each element on a line by itself, but omitting all other insignificant whitespace in the output. If INDENT is present without a SIZE specification, then 2-space indenting is used. If you omit this clause, then the behavior (pretty-printing or not) is indeterminate.

HIDE DEFAULTS and SHOW DEFAULTS apply only to XML schema-based data. If you specify SHOW DEFAULTS and the input data is missing any optional elements or attributes for which the XML schema defines default values, then those elements or attributes are included in the output with their default values. If you specify HIDE DEFAULTS, then no such elements or attributes are included in the output. HIDE DEFAULTS is the default behavior.

Examples

The following statement uses the DUAL table to illustrate the syntax of XMLSerialize:

SELECT XMLSERIALIZE(CONTENT XMLTYPE('<Owner>Grandco</Owner>')) AS xmlserialize_doc
   FROM DUAL;

XMLSERIALIZE_DOC
----------------
<Owner>Grandco</Owner>