> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://mariadb.com/docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/sql-functions/string-functions/updatexml.md).

# UPDATEXML

## Syntax

```bnf
UpdateXML(xml_target, xpath_expr, new_xml)
```

## Description

This function replaces a single portion of a given fragment of XML markup`xml_target` with a new XML fragment `new_xml`, and then returns the changed XML. The portion of `xml_target` that is replaced matches an XPath expression `xpath_expr` supplied by the user. If no expression matching `xpath_expr` is found, or if multiple matches are found, the function returns the original `xml_target` XML fragment. All three arguments should be strings.

## Examples

```sql
SELECT
    UpdateXML('<a><b>ccc</b><d></d></a>', '/a', '<e>fff</e>') AS val1,
    UpdateXML('<a><b>ccc</b><d></d></a>', '/b', '<e>fff</e>') AS val2,
    UpdateXML('<a><b>ccc</b><d></d></a>', '//b', '<e>fff</e>') AS val3,
    UpdateXML('<a><b>ccc</b><d></d></a>', '/a/d', '<e>fff</e>') AS val4,
    UpdateXML('<a><d></d><b>ccc</b><d></d></a>', '/a/d', '<e>fff</e>') AS val5
    \G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
val1: <e>fff</e>
val2: <a><b>ccc</b><d></d></a>
val3: <a><e>fff</e><d></d></a>
val4: <a><b>ccc</b><e>fff</e></a>
val5: <a><d></d><b>ccc</b><d></d></a>
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
```

<sub>*This page is licensed: GPLv2, originally from*</sub> [<sub>*fill\_help\_tables.sql*</sub>](https://github.com/MariaDB/server/blob/main/scripts/fill_help_tables.sql)

{% @marketo/form formId="4316" %}


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