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functx:min-non-empty-string

The minimum of a sequence of strings, ignoring "empty" values

Description

The functx:min-non-empty-string function returns the minimum of the values in $strings, throwing out all zero-length strings. Like the functx:min-string function, it treats untyped values like strings. This is in contrast to the built-in fn:min function, which treats untyped values like numbers (and raises an error if they are not numbers).

The values in $strings must be untyped, or match the type xs:string.

Arguments and Return Type

XQuery Function Declaration

declare namespace functx = "http://www.functx.com";
declare function functx:min-non-empty-string
  ( $strings as xs:string* )  as xs:string? {

   min($strings[. != ''])
 } ;

Examples

<authors>
   <author>
      <fName/>
      <lName>Smith</lName>
   </author>
   <author>
      <fName>Kate</fName>
      <lName>Jones</lName>
   </author>
   <author>
      <fName>John</fName>
      <lName>Doe</lName>
   </author>
</authors>

functx:min-non-empty-string( $in-xml//fName )

John

See Also

History