How to extract data in tabular format from XML field in Oracle database?

Question

I'm trying to extract data in tabular format from an XML field in an Oracle database. Please see sample xml field below:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<root>
    <element1>
        <Header Client_ID="100" Sent_date_time="2015-03-02T9:30:43.808-06:00"/>
        <element2>
            <element3 UnitPrice="3.2" ItemID="njh1"/>
            <element3 UnitPrice="4.1" ItemID="ole5"/>
            <element3 UnitPrice="4.6" ItemID="usd3"/>
            <element3 UnitPrice="8.2" ItemID="eor9"/>
            <element3 UnitPrice="2.9" ItemID="abc8"/>
            <element3 UnitPrice="5.1" ItemID="gfd3"/>
            <element3 UnitPrice="4.9" ItemID="kdu0"/>
            <element3 UnitPrice="6.1" ItemID="uso8"/>
        </element2>
    </element1>
</root>

My aim is to query the itemID and UnitPrice fields from the xml field above in the format shown below:

ItemID  UnitPrice
njh1      3.2
ole5      4.1
usd3      4.6
eor9      8.2
abc8      2.9
gfd3      5.1
kdu0      4.9
uso8      6.1

I'm fairly new to querying data from xml fields. I have tried using the getStringVal, but all I get is one single long string. Please advise on a solution. Please note that I don't have dba rights to this database.

Thank you

Answer 1

You have to use XMLTABLE function for this.

SQL Fiddle

Oracle 11g R2 Schema Setup :

create table xml_test(
  xml_col varchar2(2000)
  );

insert into xml_test values(
  '<?xml version=''1.0'' encoding=''UTF-8''?>
<root>
    <element1>
        <Header Client_ID="100" Sent_date_time="2015-03-02T9:30:43.808-06:00"/>
        <element2>
            <element3 UnitPrice="3.2" ItemID="njh1"/>
            <element3 UnitPrice="4.1" ItemID="ole5"/>
            <element3 UnitPrice="4.6" ItemID="usd3"/>
            <element3 UnitPrice="8.2" ItemID="eor9"/>
            <element3 UnitPrice="2.9" ItemID="abc8"/>
            <element3 UnitPrice="5.1" ItemID="gfd3"/>
            <element3 UnitPrice="4.9" ItemID="kdu0"/>
            <element3 UnitPrice="6.1" ItemID="uso8"/>
        </element2>
    </element1>
</root>'
  );

Query :

select cols.ItemID, cols.UnitPrice
from xml_test x,
  xmltable('root/element1/element2/element3'
           passing xmltype(x.xml_col)
           columns ItemID varchar2(10) path '@ItemID',
                   UnitPrice varchar2(10) path '@UnitPrice'
           ) cols;

Results :

| ITEMID | UNITPRICE |
|--------|-----------|
|   njh1 |       3.2 |
|   ole5 |       4.1 |
|   usd3 |       4.6 |
|   eor9 |       8.2 |
|   abc8 |       2.9 |
|   gfd3 |       5.1 |
|   kdu0 |       4.9 |
|   uso8 |       6.1 |