How do I get the parent element names from the XML in SQL server

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Hi,

I need to get the parent element names from the below sample xml. When i tried the below query, i got all the element name including all the child names too. But I need only the parent element name from the xml.

SQL

DECLARE @xml xml = 
'<root>
	<country>
		<id>1</id>
		<code>CY</code>
		<name>cyprus</name>
		<isocode>CYP</isocode>
	</country>
	<country>
		<id>110</id>
		<code>JP</code>
		<name>Japan</name>
		<isocode>JPN</isocode>
	</country>
	<country>
		<id>155029</id>
		<code>IN</code>
		<name>India</name>
		<isocode>IND</isocode>
	</country>
	<rank>
		<id>3</id>
		<code>C/O TRN</code>
		<rankname>CHIEF OFFICER TRAINEE</rankname>
	</rank>
	<rank>
		<id>105354</id>
		<code>MAS</code>
		<rankname>MASTER</rankname>
	</rank>
	<rank>
		<id>105355</id>
		<code>C/E</code>
		<rankname>CHIEF ENGINEER</rankname>
	</rank>
</root>'

SELECT Nodes.Name.query('local-name(.)') AS 'NAMES' FROM @xml.nodes('//*') As Nodes(Name)

Output for the above query is,

root
country
id
code
name
isocode
country
rank
id
code
rankname
rank
id
code
rankname
rank
id
code
rankname

Required Output:(Only the parent element name from the xml)
country
rank

What I have tried:

This is the query i have tried,
SELECT Nodes.Name.query('local-name(.)') AS 'NAMES' FROM @xml.nodes('//*') As Nodes(Name)

Posted 25-Apr-23 0:07am

Rajesh waran

Updated 25-Apr-23 0:57am

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Richard Deeming · Accepted Answer · 2023-04-25T00:57:00

Filter out elements that don't have child elements:

SQL

FROM @xml.nodes('//*[*]')

Set selection predicates in location path (SQLXML) - SQL Server | Microsoft Learn[^]

Based on your output, you also want to filter out the root node:

SQL

FROM @xml.nodes('/*/*[*]')

You also only seem to want a distinct list, which means you'll need to switch from .query(...) to .value(...):

SQL

SELECT DISTINCT
    Nodes.Name.value('local-name(.)', 'nvarchar(max)') As NAMES
FROM
    @xml.nodes('/*/*[*]') As Nodes(Name)
;

value() Method (xml Data Type) - SQL Server | Microsoft Learn[^]