I have a large XML note with many nodes.
is there a way that I can select only a single node and all of its contents from the larger XML?
i am using sql 2005
You should use the query() Method if you want to get a part of your XML.
declare @XML xml
set @XML =
'
<root>
<row1>
<value>1</value>
</row1>
<row2>
<value>2</value>
</row2>
</root>
'
select @XML.query('/root/row2')
Result:
<row2>
<value>2</value>
</row2>
If you want the value from a specific node you should use value() Method.
select @XML.value('(/root/row2/value)[1]', 'int')
Result:
2
Update:
If you want to shred your XML to multiple rows you use nodes() Method.
To get values:
declare @XML xml
set @XML =
'
<root>
<row>
<value>1</value>
</row>
<row>
<value>2</value>
</row>
</root>
'
select T.N.value('value[1]', 'int')
from @XML.nodes('/root/row') as T(N)
Result:
(No column name)
1
2
To get the entire XML:
select T.N.query('.')
from @XML.nodes('/root/row') as T(N)
Result:
(No column name)
<row><value>1</value></row>
<row><value>2</value></row>