xml-data-sql-server.md

title	XML data (SQL Server)
description	Use XML data for developing rich applications for semi-structured data management.
ms.prod	sql
ms.prod_service	database-engine
ms.technology	xml
ms.topic	conceptual
helpviewer_keywords	XML [SQL Server] XML [SQL Server], about XML
ms.assetid	6a1793c9-9856-485c-aac5-88fda62f61a8
author	MikeRayMSFT
ms.author	mikeray
ms.reviewer	randolphwest
ms.custom
ms.date	04/29/2022

XML data (SQL Server)

[!INCLUDE SQL Server Azure SQL Database]

[!INCLUDEssNoVersion] provides a powerful platform for developing rich applications for semi-structured data management. Support for XML is integrated into all the components in [!INCLUDEssNoVersion] in the following ways:

• The xml data type. XML values can be stored natively in an xml data type column that can be typed according to a collection of XML schemas, or left untyped. You can index the XML column.

• The ability to specify an XQuery query against XML data stored in columns and variables of the xml type.

• Enhancements to OPENROWSET to allow bulk loading of XML data.

• The FOR XML clause, to retrieve relational data in XML format.

• The OPENXML function, to retrieve XML data in relational format.

In this section

• XML Data Type and Columns (SQL Server)
• XML Indexes (SQL Server)
• XML Schema Collections (SQL Server)
• FOR XML (SQL Server)
• OPENXML (Transact-SQL)

See also

• Examples of Bulk Import and Export of XML Documents (SQL Server)
• XQuery Language Reference (SQL Server)
• xml (Transact-SQL)