Hi Yitzhak, Try this: declare context item := document { ... }; * update { delete node employee } See [1] for more information on updating expressions. Best, Christian [1] https://docs.basex.org/wiki/XQuery_Update On 9/13/20, Yitzhak Khabinsky <ykhabins@bellsouth.net> wrote:

Hello,

This is input XML:

<employee emp="1" dept="55"> <name>Peter</name> <job>Director</job> <employee emp="12" dept="26"> <name>John</name> <job>Animator</job> <employee emp="123" dept="27"> <name>James</name> <job>Assistant</job> </employee> </employee> </employee>

Desired output XML:

<employee emp="1" dept="55"> <name>Peter</name> <job>Director</job> </employee>

Overall, it is a so called 'modified identity transformation' in XSLT parlance.

Output XML shall be the same, except the child <employee> element and its children.

Question:

What is the best way to re-create existing root element with all its attributes?

My implementation:

xquery version "3.1";

declare context item := document {

<employee emp="1" dept="55">

<name>Peter</name>

<job>Director</job>

<employee emp="12" dept="26">

<name>John</name>

<job>Animator</job>

<employee emp="123" dept="27">

<name>James</name>

<job>Assistant</job>

</employee>

</employee>

</employee>

};

(: working version :)

element {fn:node-name(/*)}

{

let $y := ./*/@*

return $y, (: copy all attributes :)

for $x in ./*/(* except employee)

return $x

}

(: NOT working version, trying to make it more concise :)

element {fn:node-name(/*)} {/*/@*}

{

return for $x in ./*/(* except employee)

return $x

}

Regards, Yitzhak Khabinsky