19 Casting

Constructor functions and cast expressions accept an expression and return a value of a given type. They both convert a source value, SV, of a source type, ST, to a target value, TV, of the given target type, TT, with identical semantics and different syntax. The name of the constructor function is the same as the name of the built-in [XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes Second Edition] datatype or the datatype defined in Section 2.7 Schema Information DM31 of [XQuery and XPath Data Model (XDM) 3.1] (see 18.1 Constructor functions for XML Schema built-in atomic types) or the user-derived datatype (see 18.5 Constructor functions for user-defined types) that is the target for the conversion, and the semantics are exactly the same as for a cast expression; for example, xs:date("2003-01-01") means exactly the same as "2003-01-01" cast as xs:date?.

The cast expression takes a type name to indicate the target type of the conversion. See Section 3.14.2 Cast XP31. If the type name allows the empty sequence and the expression to be cast is the empty sequence, the empty sequence is returned. If the type name does not allow the empty sequence and the expression to be cast is the empty sequence, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004]XP.

Where the argument to a cast is a literal, the result of the function may be evaluated statically; if an error is encountered during such evaluation, it may be reported as a static error.

The general rules for casting from primitive types to primitive types are defined in 19.1 Casting from primitive types to primitive types, and subsections describe the rules for specific target types. The general rules for casting from xs:string (and xs:untypedAtomic) follow in 19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic. Casting to non-primitive types, including atomic types derived by resctriction, union types, and list types, is described in 19.3 Casting involving non-primitive types. Casting from derived types is defined in 19.3.2 Casting from derived types to parent types, 19.3.3 Casting within a branch of the type hierarchy and 19.3.4 Casting across the type hierarchy.

[Definition] Throughout this section (19 Casting), the term primitive type means either one of the 19 primitive types defined in [XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes Second Edition], or one of the types xs:untypedAtomic, xs:integer, xs:yearMonthDuration and xs:dayTimeDuration; and where the text refers to types derived from a particular primitive type T, the reference is to types for which T is the nearest ancestor-or-self primitive type in the type hierarchy.

When casting from xs:string or xs:untypedAtomic the semantics in 19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic apply, regardless of target type.

19.1 Casting from primitive types to primitive types

This section defines casting between ·primitive types· (specifically, the 19 primitive types defined in [XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes Second Edition] as well as xs:untypedAtomic, xs:integer and the two derived types of xs:duration: xs:yearMonthDuration and xs:dayTimeDuration which are treated as primitive types in this section. The type conversions that are supported between primitive atomic types are indicated in the table below; casts between other (non-primitive) types are defined in terms of these primitives.

In this table, there is a row for each ·primitive type· acting as the source of the conversion and there is a column for each ·primitive type· acting as the target of the conversion. The intersections of rows and columns contain one of three characters: Y indicates that a conversion from values of the type to which the row applies to the type to which the column applies is supported; N indicates that there are no supported conversions from values of the type to which the row applies to the type to which the column applies; and M indicates that a conversion from values of the type to which the row applies to the type to which the column applies may succeed for some values in the value space and fail for others.

[XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes Second Edition] defines xs:NOTATION as an abstract type. Thus, casting to xs:NOTATION from any other type including xs:NOTATION is not permitted and raises a static error [err:XPST0080]XP. However, casting from one subtype of xs:NOTATION to another subtype of xs:NOTATION is permitted.

Casting is not supported to or from xs:anySimpleType. Thus, there is no row or column for this type in the table below. For any node that has not been validated or has been validated as xs:anySimpleType, the typed value of the node is an atomic value of type xs:untypedAtomic. There are no atomic values with the type annotation xs:anySimpleType at runtime. Casting to xs:anySimpleType is not permitted and raises a static error: [err:XPST0080]XP.

Similarly, casting is not supported to or from xs:anyAtomicType and will raise a static error: [err:XPST0080]XP. There are no atomic values with the type annotation xs:anyAtomicType at runtime, although this can be a statically inferred type.

If casting is attempted from an ST to a TT for which casting is not supported, as defined in the table below, a type error is raised [err:XPTY0004]XP.

In the following table, the columns and rows are identified by short codes that identify simple types as follows:

uA = xs:untypedAtomic
aURI = xs:anyURI
b64 = xs:base64Binary
bool = xs:boolean
dat = xs:date
gDay = xs:gDay
dbl = xs:double
dec = xs:decimal
dT = xs:dateTime
dTD = xs:dayTimeDuration
dur = xs:duration
flt = xs:float
hxB = xs:hexBinary
gMD = xs:gMonthDay
gMon = xs:gMonth
int = xs:integer
NOT = xs:NOTATION
QN = xs:QName
str = xs:string
tim = xs:time
gYM = xs:gYearMonth
yMD = xs:yearMonthDuration
gYr = xs:gYear

In the following table, the notation "S\T" indicates that the source ("S") of the conversion is indicated in the column below the notation and that the target ("T") is indicated in the row to the right of the notation.

S\T uA str flt dbl dec int dur yMD dTD dT tim dat gYM gYr gMD gDay gMon bool b64 hxB aURI QN NOT
uA Y Y M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M
str Y Y M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M
flt Y Y Y Y M M N N N N N N N N N N N Y N N N N N
dbl Y Y Y Y M M N N N N N N N N N N N Y N N N N N
dec Y Y Y Y Y Y N N N N N N N N N N N Y N N N N N
int Y Y Y Y Y Y N N N N N N N N N N N Y N N N N N
dur Y Y N N N N Y Y Y N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
yMD Y Y N N N N Y Y Y N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
dTD Y Y N N N N Y Y Y N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
dT Y Y N N N N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N N N N N N
tim Y Y N N N N N N N N Y N N N N N N N N N N N N
dat Y Y N N N N N N N Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y N N N N N N
gYM Y Y N N N N N N N N N N Y N N N N N N N N N N
gYr Y Y N N N N N N N N N N N Y N N N N N N N N N
gMD Y Y N N N N N N N N N N N N Y N N N N N N N N
gDay Y Y N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y N N N N N N N
gMon Y Y N N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y N N N N N N
bool Y Y Y Y Y Y N N N N N N N N N N N Y N N N N N
b64 Y Y N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y Y N N N
hxB Y Y N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y Y N N N
aURI Y Y N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y N N
QN Y Y N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y M
NOT Y Y N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y M

19.1.1 Casting to xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic

Casting is permitted from any ·primitive type· to the ·primitive types· xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic.

When a value of any simple type is cast as xs:string, the derivation of the xs:string value TV depends on the ST and on the SV, as follows.

  • If ST is xs:string or a type derived from xs:string, TV is SV.

  • If ST is xs:anyURI, the type conversion is performed without escaping any characters.

  • If ST is xs:QName or xs:NOTATION:

    • if the qualified name has a prefix, then TV is the concatenation of the prefix of SV, a single colon (:), and the local name of SV.

    • otherwise TV is the local-name.

  • If ST is a numeric type, the following rules apply:

    • If ST is xs:integer, TV is the canonical lexical representation of SV as defined in [XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes Second Edition]. There is no decimal point.

    • If ST is xs:decimal, then:

      • If SV is in the value space of xs:integer, that is, if there are no significant digits after the decimal point, then the value is converted from an xs:decimal to an xs:integer and the resulting xs:integer is converted to an xs:string using the rule above.

      • Otherwise, the canonical lexical representation of SV is returned, as defined in [XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes Second Edition].

    • If ST is xs:float or xs:double, then:

      • TV will be an xs:string in the lexical space of xs:double or xs:float that when converted to an xs:double or xs:float under the rules of 19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic produces a value that is equal to SV, or is NaN if SV is NaN. In addition, TV must satisfy the constraints in the following sub-bullets.

        • If SV has an absolute value that is greater than or equal to 0.000001 (one millionth) and less than 1000000 (one million), then the value is converted to an xs:decimal and the resulting xs:decimal is converted to an xs:string according to the rules above, as though using an implementation of xs:decimal that imposes no limits on the totalDigits or fractionDigits facets.

        • If SV has the value positive or negative zero, TV is "0" or "-0" respectively.

        • If SV is positive or negative infinity, TV is the string "INF" or "-INF" respectively.

        • In other cases, the result consists of a mantissa, which has the lexical form of an xs:decimal, followed by the letter "E", followed by an exponent which has the lexical form of an xs:integer. Leading zeroes and "+" signs are prohibited in the exponent. For the mantissa, there must be a decimal point, and there must be exactly one digit before the decimal point, which must be non-zero. The "+" sign is prohibited. There must be at least one digit after the decimal point. Apart from this mandatory digit, trailing zero digits are prohibited.

      Note:

      The above rules allow more than one representation of the same value. For example, the xs:float value whose exact decimal representation is 1.26743223E15 might be represented by any of the strings "1.26743223E15", "1.26743222E15" or "1.26743224E15" (inter alia). It is implementation-dependent which of these representations is chosen.

  • If ST is xs:dateTime, xs:date or xs:time, TV is the local value. The components of TV are individually cast to xs:string using the functions described in [casting-to-datetimes] and the results are concatenated together. The year component is cast to xs:string using eg:convertYearToString. The month, day, hour and minute components are cast to xs:string using eg:convertTo2CharString. The second component is cast to xs:string using eg:convertSecondsToString. The timezone component, if present, is cast to xs:string using eg:convertTZtoString.

    Note that the hours component of the resulting string will never be "24". Midnight is always represented as "00:00:00".

  • If ST is xs:yearMonthDuration or xs:dayTimeDuration, TV is the canonical representation of SV as defined in [Schema 1.1 Part 2].

  • If ST is xs:duration then let SYM be SV cast as xs:yearMonthDuration, and let SDT be SV cast as xs:dayTimeDuration; Now, let the next intermediate value, TYM, be SYM cast as TT , and let TDT be SDT cast as TT . If TYM is "P0M", then TV is TDT. Otherwise, TYM and TDT are merged according to the following rules:

    1. If TDT is "PT0S", then TV is TYM.

    2. Otherwise, TV is the concatenation of all the characters in TYM and all the characters except the first "P" and the optional negative sign in TDT.

  • In all other cases, TV is the [XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes Second Edition] canonical representation of SV. For datatypes that do not have a canonical lexical representation defined an ·implementation-dependent· canonical representation may be used.

To cast as xs:untypedAtomic the value is cast as xs:string, as described above, and the type annotation changed to xs:untypedAtomic.

Note:

The string representations of numeric values are backwards compatible with XPath 1.0 except for the special values positive and negative infinity, negative zero and values outside the range 1.0e-6 to 1.0e+6.

19.1.2 Casting to numeric types

19.1.2.1 Casting to xs:float

When a value of any simple type is cast as xs:float, the xs:float TV is derived from the ST and the SV as follows:

  • If ST is xs:float, then TV is SV and the conversion is complete.

  • If ST is xs:double, then TV is obtained as follows:

    • if SV is the xs:double value INF, -INF, NaN, positive zero, or negative zero, then TV is the xs:float value INF, -INF, NaN, positive zero, or negative zero respectively.

    • otherwise, SV can be expressed in the form m × 2^e where the mantissa m and exponent e are signed xs:integers whose value range is defined in [XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes Second Edition], and the following rules apply:

      • if m (the mantissa of SV) is outside the permitted range for the mantissa of an xs:float value (-2^24-1 to +2^24-1), then it is divided by 2^N where N is the lowest positive xs:integer that brings the result of the division within the permitted range, and the exponent e is increased by N. This is integer division (in effect, the binary value of the mantissa is truncated on the right). Let M be the mantissa and E the exponent after this adjustment.

      • if E exceeds 104 (the maximum exponent value in the value space of xs:float) then TV is the xs:float value INF or -INF depending on the sign of M.

      • if E is less than -149 (the minimum exponent value in the value space of xs:float) then TV is the xs:float value positive or negative zero depending on the sign of M

      • otherwise, TV is the xs:float value M × 2^E.

  • If ST is xs:decimal, or xs:integer, then TV is xs:float( SV cast as xs:string) and the conversion is complete.

  • If ST is xs:boolean, SV is converted to 1.0E0 if SV is true and to 0.0E0 if SV is false and the conversion is complete.

  • If ST is xs:untypedAtomic or xs:string, see 19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic.

    Note:

    XSD 1.1 adds the value +INF to the lexical space, as an alternative to INF. XSD 1.1 also adds negative zero to the value space.

Note:

Implementations should return negative zero for xs:float("-0.0E0"). But because [XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes Second Edition] does not distinguish between the values positive zero and negative zero. Implementations may return positive zero in this case.

19.1.2.2 Casting to xs:double

When a value of any simple type is cast as xs:double, the xs:double value TV is derived from the ST and the SV as follows:

  • If ST is xs:double, then TV is SV and the conversion is complete.

  • If ST is xs:float or a type derived from xs:float, then TV is obtained as follows:

    • if SV is the xs:float value INF, -INF, NaN, positive zero, or negative zero, then TV is the xs:double value INF, -INF, NaN, positive zero, or negative zero respectively.

    • otherwise, SV can be expressed in the form m × 2^e where the mantissa m and exponent e are signed xs:integer values whose value range is defined in [XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes Second Edition], and TV is the xs:double value m × 2^e.

  • If ST is xs:decimal or xs:integer, then TV is xs:double( SV cast as xs:string) and the conversion is complete.

  • If ST is xs:boolean, SV is converted to 1.0E0 if SV is true and to 0.0E0 if SV is false and the conversion is complete.

  • If ST is xs:untypedAtomic or xs:string, see 19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic.

    Note:

    XSD 1.1 adds the value +INF to the lexical space, as an alternative to INF. XSD 1.1 also adds negative zero to the value space.

Note:

Implementations should return negative zero for xs:double("-0.0E0"). But because [XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes Second Edition] does not distinguish between the values positive zero and negative zero. Implementations may return positive zero in this case.

19.1.2.3 Casting to xs:decimal

When a value of any simple type is cast as xs:decimal, the xs:decimal value TV is derived from ST and SV as follows:

  • If ST is xs:decimal, xs:integer or a type derived from them, then TV is SV, converted to an xs:decimal value if need be, and the conversion is complete.

  • If ST is xs:float or xs:double, then TV is the xs:decimal value, within the set of xs:decimal values that the implementation is capable of representing, that is numerically closest to SV. If two values are equally close, then the one that is closest to zero is chosen. If SV is too large to be accommodated as an xs:decimal, (see [XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes Second Edition] for ·implementation-defined· limits on numeric values) a dynamic error is raised [err:FOCA0001]. If SV is one of the special xs:float or xs:double values NaN, INF, or -INF, a dynamic error is raised [err:FOCA0002].

  • If ST is xs:boolean, SV is converted to 1.0 if SV is 1 or true and to 0.0 if SV is 0 or false and the conversion is complete.

  • If ST is xs:untypedAtomic or xs:string, see 19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic.

19.1.2.4 Casting to xs:integer

When a value of any simple type is cast as xs:integer, the xs:integer value TV is derived from ST and SV as follows:

  • If ST is xs:integer, or a type derived from xs:integer, then TV is SV, converted to an xs:integer value if need be, and the conversion is complete.

  • If ST is xs:decimal, xs:float or xs:double, then TV is SV with the fractional part discarded and the value converted to xs:integer. Thus, casting 3.1456 returns 3 and -17.89 returns -17. Casting 3.124E1 returns 31. If SV is too large to be accommodated as an integer, (see [XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes Second Edition] for ·implementation-defined· limits on numeric values) a dynamic error is raised [err:FOCA0003]. If SV is one of the special xs:float or xs:double values NaN, INF, or -INF, a dynamic error is raised [err:FOCA0002].

  • If ST is xs:boolean, SV is converted to 1 if SV is 1 or true and to 0 if SV is 0 or false and the conversion is complete.

  • If ST is xs:untypedAtomic or xs:string, see 19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic.

19.1.3 Casting to duration types

When a value of type xs:untypedAtomic, xs:string, a type derived from xs:string, xs:yearMonthDuration or xs:dayTimeDuration is cast as xs:duration, xs:yearMonthDuration or xs:dayTimeDuration, TV is derived from ST and SV as follows:

  • If ST is the same as TT, then TV is SV.

  • If ST is xs:duration, or a type derived from xs:duration, but not xs:dayTimeDuration or a type derived from xs:dayTimeDuration, and TT is xs:yearMonthDuration, then TV is derived from SV by removing the day, hour, minute and second components from SV.

  • If ST is xs:duration, or a type derived from duration, but not xs:yearMonthDuration or a type derived from xs:yearMonthDuration, and TT is xs:dayTimeDuration, then TV is derived from SV by removing the year and month components from SV.

  • If ST is xs:yearMonthDuration or xs:dayTimeDuration, and TT is xs:duration, then TV is derived from SV as defined in 19.3.2 Casting from derived types to parent types.

  • If ST is xs:yearMonthDuration and TT is xs:dayTimeDuration, the cast is permitted and returns a xs:dayTimeDuration with value 0.0 seconds.

  • If ST is xs:dayTimeDuration and TT is xs:yearMonthDuration, the cast is permitted and returns a xs:yearMonthDuration with value 0 months.

  • If ST is xs:untypedAtomic or xs:string, see 19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic.

Note that casting from xs:duration to xs:yearMonthDuration or xs:dayTimeDuration loses information. To avoid this, users can cast the xs:duration value to both an xs:yearMonthDuration and an xs:dayTimeDuration and work with both values.

19.1.4 Casting to date and time types

In several situations, casting to date and time types requires the extraction of a component from SV or from the result of fn:current-dateTime and converting it to an xs:string. These conversions must follow certain rules. For example, converting an xs:integer year value requires converting to an xs:string with four or more characters, preceded by a minus sign if the value is negative.

This document defines four functions to perform these conversions. These functions are for illustrative purposes only and make no recommendations as to style or efficiency. References to these functions from the following text are not normative.

The arguments to these functions come from functions defined in this document. Thus, the functions below assume that they are correct and do no range checking on them.

declare function eg:convertYearToString($year as xs:integer) as xs:string
{
   let $plusMinus := if ($year >= 0) then "" else "-"
   let $yearString := fn:abs($year) cast as xs:string
   let $length := fn:string-length($yearString)
   return
     if ($length = 1)  then fn:concat($plusMinus, "000", $yearString)
     else
     if ($length = 2)  then fn:concat($plusMinus, "00", $yearString)
       else
       if ($length = 3)  then fn:concat($plusMinus, "0", $yearString)
       else fn:concat($plusMinus, $yearString)
}
                    
declare function eg:convertTo2CharString($value as xs:integer) as xs:string
{
   let $string := $value cast as xs:string
   return 
     if (fn:string-length($string) = 1) then fn:concat("0", $string)
     else $string
}
                    
declare function eg:convertSecondsToString($seconds as xs:decimal) as xs:string
{
   let $string := $seconds cast as xs:string
   let $intLength := fn:string-length(($seconds cast as xs:integer) cast as xs:string)
   return 
     if ($intLength = 1) then fn:concat("0", $string)
     else $string
}
                    
declare function eg:convertTZtoString($tz as xs:dayTimeDuration?) as xs:string
{
   if (empty($tz)) 
     then ""
   else if ($tz eq xs:dayTimeDuration('PT0S'))
     then "Z"
   else 
     let $tzh := fn:hours-from-duration($tz)
     let $tzm := fn:minutes-from-duration($tz)
     let $plusMinus := if ($tzh >= 0) then "+" else "-"
     let $tzhString := eg:convertTo2CharString(fn:abs($tzh))
     let $tzmString := eg:convertTo2CharString(fn:abs($tzm))
     return fn:concat($plusMinus, $tzhString, ":", $tzmString)
}

                    

Conversion from ·primitive types· to date and time types follows the rules below.

  1. When a value of any primitive type is cast as xs:dateTime, the xs:dateTime value TV is derived from ST and SV as follows:

    • If ST is xs:dateTime, then TV is SV.

    • If ST is xs:date, then let SYR be eg:convertYearToString( fn:year-from-date( SV )), let SMO be eg:convertTo2CharString( fn:month-from-date( SV )), let SDA be eg:convertTo2CharString( fn:day-from-date( SV )) and let STZ be eg:convertTZtoString( fn:timezone-from-date( SV )); TV is xs:dateTime( fn:concat( SYR , '-', SMO , '-', SDA , 'T00:00:00 ', STZ ) ).

    • If ST is xs:untypedAtomic or xs:string, see 19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic.

  2. When a value of any primitive type is cast as xs:time, the xs:time value TV is derived from ST and SV as follows:

    • If ST is xs:time, then TV is SV.

    • If ST is xs:dateTime, then TV is xs:time( fn:concat( eg:convertTo2CharString( fn:hours-from-dateTime( SV )), ':', eg:convertTo2CharString( fn:minutes-from-dateTime( SV )), ':', eg:convertSecondsToString( fn:seconds-from-dateTime( SV )), eg:convertTZtoString( fn:timezone-from-dateTime( SV )) )).

    • If ST is xs:untypedAtomic or xs:string, see 19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic.

  3. When a value of any primitive type is cast as xs:date, the xs:date value TV is derived from ST and SV as follows:

    • If ST is xs:date, then TV is SV.

    • If ST is xs:dateTime, then let SYR be eg:convertYearToString( fn:year-from-dateTime( SV )), let SMO be eg:convertTo2CharString( fn:month-from-dateTime( SV )), let SDA be eg:convertTo2CharString( fn:day-from-dateTime( SV )) and let STZ be eg:convertTZtoString(fn:timezone-from-dateTime( SV )); TV is xs:date( fn:concat( SYR , '-', SMO , '-', SDA, STZ ) ).

    • If ST is xs:untypedAtomic or xs:string, see 19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic.

  4. When a value of any primitive type is cast as xs:gYearMonth, the xs:gYearMonth value TV is derived from ST and SV as follows:

    • If ST is xs:gYearMonth, then TV is SV.

    • If ST is xs:dateTime, then let SYR be eg:convertYearToString( fn:year-from-dateTime( SV )), let SMO be eg:convertTo2CharString( fn:month-from-dateTime( SV )) and let STZ be eg:convertTZtoString( fn:timezone-from-dateTime( SV )); TV is xs:gYearMonth( fn:concat( SYR , '-', SMO, STZ ) ).

    • If ST is xs:date, then let SYR be eg:convertYearToString( fn:year-from-date( SV )), let SMO be eg:convertTo2CharString( fn:month-from-date( SV )) and let STZ be eg:convertTZtoString( fn:timezone-from-date( SV )); TV is xs:gYearMonth( fn:concat( SYR , '-', SMO, STZ ) ).

    • If ST is xs:untypedAtomic or xs:string, see 19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic.

  5. When a value of any primitive type is cast as xs:gYear, the xs:gYear value TV is derived from ST and SV as follows:

    • If ST is xs:gYear, then TV is SV.

    • If ST is xs:dateTime, let SYR be eg:convertYearToString( fn:year-from-dateTime( SV )) and let STZ be eg:convertTZtoString( fn:timezone-from-dateTime( SV )); TV is xs:gYear(fn:concat( SYR, STZ )).

    • If ST is xs:date, let SYR be eg:convertYearToString( fn:year-from-date( SV )); and let STZ be eg:convertTZtoString( fn:timezone-from-date( SV )); TV is xs:gYear(fn:concat( SYR, STZ )).

    • If ST is xs:untypedAtomic or xs:string, see 19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic.

  6. When a value of any primitive type is cast as xs:gMonthDay, the xs:gMonthDay value TV is derived from ST and SV as follows:

    • If ST is xs:gMonthDay, then TV is SV.

    • If ST is xs:dateTime, then let SMO be eg:convertTo2CharString( fn:month-from-dateTime( SV )), let SDA be eg:convertTo2CharString( fn:day-from-dateTime( SV )) and let STZ be eg:convertTZtoString( fn:timezone-from-dateTime( SV )); TV is xs:gYearMonth( fn:concat( '--', SMO '-', SDA, STZ ) ).

    • If ST is xs:date, then let SMO be eg:convertTo2CharString( fn:month-from-date( SV )), let SDA be eg:convertTo2CharString( fn:day-from-date( SV )) and let STZ be eg:convertTZtoString( fn:timezone-from-date( SV )); TV is xs:gYearMonth( fn:concat( '--', SMO , '-', SDA, STZ ) ).

    • If ST is xs:untypedAtomic or xs:string, see 19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic.

  7. When a value of any primitive type is cast as xs:gDay, the xs:gDay value TV is derived from ST and SV as follows:

    • If ST is xs:gDay, then TV is SV.

    • If ST is xs:dateTime, then let SDA be eg:convertTo2CharString( fn:day-from-dateTime( SV )) and let STZ be eg:convertTZtoString( fn:timezone-from-dateTime( SV )); TV is xs:gDay( fn:concat( '---', SDA, STZ )).

    • If ST is xs:date, then let SDA be eg:convertTo2CharString( fn:day-from-date( SV )) and let STZ be eg:convertTZtoString( fn:timezone-from-date( SV )); TV is xs:gDay( fn:concat( '---', SDA, STZ )).

    • If ST is xs:untypedAtomic or xs:string, see 19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic.

  8. When a value of any primitive type is cast as xs:gMonth, the xs:gMonth value TV is derived from ST and SV as follows:

    • If ST is xs:gMonth, then TV is SV.

    • If ST is xs:dateTime, then let SMO be eg:convertTo2CharString( fn:month-from-dateTime( SV )) and let STZ be eg:convertTZtoString( fn:timezone-from-dateTime( SV )); TV is xs:gMonth( fn:concat( '--' , SMO, STZ )).

    • If ST is xs:date, then let SMO be eg:convertTo2CharString( fn:month-from-date( SV )) and let STZ be eg:convertTZtoString( fn:timezone-from-date( SV )); TV is xs:gMonth( fn:concat( '--', SMO, STZ )).

    • If ST is xs:untypedAtomic or xs:string, see 19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic.

19.1.5 Casting to xs:boolean

When a value of any ·primitive type· is cast as xs:boolean, the xs:boolean value TV is derived from ST and SV as follows:

  • If ST is xs:boolean, then TV is SV.

  • If ST is xs:float, xs:double, xs:decimal or xs:integer and SV is 0, +0, -0, 0.0, 0.0E0 or NaN, then TV is false.

  • If ST is xs:float, xs:double, xs:decimal or xs:integer and SV is not one of the above values, then TV is true.

  • If ST is xs:untypedAtomic or xs:string, see 19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic.

19.1.6 Casting to xs:base64Binary and xs:hexBinary

Values of type xs:base64Binary can be cast as xs:hexBinary and vice versa, since the two types have the same value space. Casting to xs:base64Binary and xs:hexBinary is also supported from the same type and from xs:untypedAtomic, xs:string and subtypes of xs:string using [XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes Second Edition] semantics.

19.1.7 Casting to xs:anyURI

Casting to xs:anyURI is supported only from the same type, xs:untypedAtomic or xs:string.

When a value of any ·primitive type· is cast as xs:anyURI, the xs:anyURI value TV is derived from the ST and SV as follows:

19.1.8 Casting to xs:QName and xs:NOTATION

Casting from xs:string or xs:untypedAtomic to xs:QName or xs:NOTATION is described in 19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic.

It is also possible to cast from xs:NOTATION to xs:QName, or from xs:QName to any type derived by restriction from xs:NOTATION. (Casting to xs:NOTATION itself is not allowed, because xs:NOTATION is an abstract type.) The resulting xs:QName or xs:NOTATION has the same prefix, local name, and namespace URI parts as the supplied value.

Note:

See 18.2 Constructor functions for xs:QName and xs:NOTATION for a discussion of how the combination of atomization and casting might not produce the desired effect.

19.1.9 Casting to xs:ENTITY

[XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes Second Edition] says that "The value space of ENTITY is the set of all strings that match the NCName production ... and have been declared as an unparsed entity in a document type definition." However, [XSL Transformations (XSLT) Version 4.0] and [XQuery 4.1: An XML Query Language] do not check that constructed values of type xs:ENTITY match declared unparsed entities. Thus, this rule is relaxed in this specification and, in casting to xs:ENTITY and types derived from it, no check is made that the values correspond to declared unparsed entities.

19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic

This section applies when the supplied value SV is an instance of xs:string or xs:untypedAtomic, including types derived from these by restriction. If the value is xs:untypedAtomic, it is treated in exactly the same way as a string containing the same sequence of characters.

The supplied string is mapped to a typed value of the target type as defined in [XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes Second Edition]. Whitespace normalization is applied as indicated by the whiteSpace facet for the datatype. The resulting whitespace-normalized string must be a valid lexical form for the datatype. The semantics of casting follow the rules of XML Schema validation. For example, "13" cast as xs:unsignedInt returns the xs:unsignedInt typed value 13. This could also be written xs:unsignedInt("13").

The target type can be any simple type other than an abstract type. Specifically, it can be a type whose variety is atomic, union, or list. In each case the effect of casting to the target type is the same as constructing an element with the supplied value as its content, validating the element using the target type as the governing type, and atomizing the element to obtain its typed value.

When the target type is a derived type that is restricted by a pattern facet, the lexical form is first checked against the pattern before further casting is attempted (See 19.3.1 Casting to derived types). If the lexical form does not conform to the pattern, a dynamic error [err:FORG0001] is raised.

For example, consider a user-defined type my:boolean which is derived by restriction from xs:boolean and specifies the pattern facet value="0|1". The expression "true" cast as my:boolean would fail with a dynamic error [err:FORG0001].

Facets other than pattern are checked after the conversion. For example if there is a user-defined datatype called my:height defined as a restriction of xs:integer with the facet <maxInclusive value="84"/>, then the expression "100" cast as my:height would fail with a dynamic error [err:FORG0001].

Casting to the types xs:NOTATION, xs:anySimpleType, or xs:anyAtomicType is not permitted because these types are abstract (they have no immediate instances).

Special rules apply when casting to namespace-sensitive types. The types xs:QName and xs:NOTATION are namespace-sensitive. Any type derived by restriction from a namespace-sensitive type is itself namespace-sensitive, as is any union type having a namespace-sensitive type among its members, and any list type having a namespace-sensitive type as its item type. For details, see 18.2 Constructor functions for xs:QName and xs:NOTATION.

Note:

This version of the specification allows casting between xs:QName and xs:NOTATION in either direction; this was not permitted in the previous Recommendation. This version also removes the rule that only a string literal (rather than a dynamic string) may be cast to an xs:QName

When casting to a numeric type:

In casting to xs:decimal or to a type derived from xs:decimal, if the value is not too large or too small but nevertheless cannot be represented accurately with the number of decimal digits available to the implementation, the implementation may round to the nearest representable value or may raise a dynamic error [err:FOCA0006]. The choice of rounding algorithm and the choice between rounding and error behavior and is ·implementation-defined·.

In casting to xs:date, xs:dateTime, xs:gYear, or xs:gYearMonth (or types derived from these), if the value is too large or too small to be represented by the implementation, a dynamic error [err:FODT0001] is raised.

In casting to a duration value, if the value is too large or too small to be represented by the implementation, a dynamic error [err:FODT0002] is raised.

For xs:anyURI, the extent to which an implementation validates the lexical form of xs:anyURI is ·implementation-dependent·.

If the cast fails for any other reason, a dynamic error [err:FORG0001] is raised.

19.3 Casting involving non-primitive types

Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic to any other type (primitive or non-primitive) has been described in 19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic. This section defines how other casts to non-primitive types operate, including casting to types derived by restriction, to union types, and to list types.

Note:

A non-primitive type here means any type that is not a ·primitive type· according to the extended definition used in 19 Casting.

19.3.1 Casting to derived types

Casting a value to a derived type can be separated into four cases. In these rules:

  • The types xs:untypedAtomic, xs:integer, xs:yearMonthDuration, and xs:dayTimeDuration are treated as primitive types (alongside the 19 primitive types defined in XSD).

  • For any atomic type T, let P(T) denote the most specific primitive type such that itemType-subtype(T, P(T)) is true.

The rules are then:

  1. When ST is the same type as TT: this case always succeeds, returning SV unchanged.

  2. When itemType-subtype(ST, TT) is true: This case is described in 19.3.2 Casting from derived types to parent types.

  3. When P(ST) is the same type as P(TT): This case is described in 19.3.3 Casting within a branch of the type hierarchy.

  4. Otherwise (P(ST) is not the same type as P(TT)): This case is described in 19.3.4 Casting across the type hierarchy.

19.3.2 Casting from derived types to parent types

It is always possible to cast an atomic value A to a type T if the relation A instance of T is true, provided that T is not an abstract type.

For example, it is possible to cast an xs:unsignedShort to an xs:unsignedInt, to an xs:integer, to an xs:decimal, or to a union type whose member types are xs:integer and xs:double.

Since the value space of the original type is a subset of the value space of the target type, such a cast is always successful.

For the expression A instance of T to be true, T must be either an atomic type, or a union type that has no constraining facets. It cannot be a list type, nor a union type derived by restriction from another union type, nor a union type that has a list type among its member types.

The result will have the same value as the original, but will have a new type annotation:

  • If T is an atomic type, then the type annotation of the result is T.

  • If T is a union type, then the type of the result is an atomic type M such that M is one of the atomic types in the transitive membership of the union type T and A instance of M is true; if there is more than one type M that satisfies these conditions (which could happen, for example, if T is the union of two overlapping types such as xs:int and xs:positiveInteger) then the first one is used, taking the member types in the order in which they appear within the definition of the union type.

19.3.3 Casting within a branch of the type hierarchy

It is possible to cast an SV to a TT if the type of the SV and the TT type are both derived by restriction (directly or indirectly) from the same ·primitive type·, provided that the supplied value conforms to the constraints implied by the facets of the target type. This includes the case where the target type is derived from the type of the supplied value, as well as the case where the type of the supplied value is derived from the target type. For example, an instance of xs:byte can be cast as xs:unsignedShort, provided the value is not negative.

If the value does not conform to the facets defined for the target type, then a dynamic error is raised [err:FORG0001]. See [XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes Second Edition]. In the case of the pattern facet (which applies to the lexical space rather than the value space), the pattern is tested against the canonical lexical representation of the value, as defined for the source type (or the result of casting the value to an xs:string, in the case of types that have no canonical lexical representation defined for them).

Note that this will cause casts to fail if the pattern excludes the canonical lexical representation of the source type. For example, if the type my:distance is defined as a restriction of xs:decimal with a pattern that requires two digits after the decimal point, casting of an xs:integer to my:distance will always fail, because the canonical representation of an xs:integer does not conform to this pattern.

In some cases, casting from a parent type to a derived type requires special rules. See 19.1.3 Casting to duration types for rules regarding casting to xs:yearMonthDuration and xs:dayTimeDuration. See 19.1.9 Casting to xs:ENTITY, below, for casting to xs:ENTITY and types derived from it.

19.3.4 Casting across the type hierarchy

When the ST and the TT are derived, directly or indirectly, from different ·primitive types·, this is called casting across the type hierarchy. Casting across the type hierarchy is logically equivalent to three separate steps performed in order. Errors can occur in either of the latter two steps.

  1. Cast the SV, up the hierarchy, to the ·primitive type· of the source, as described in 19.3.2 Casting from derived types to parent types.

    1. If SV is an instance of xs:string or xs:untypedAtomic, check its value against the pattern facet of TT, and raise a dynamic error [err:FORG0001] if the check fails.

  2. Cast the value to the ·primitive type· of TT, as described in 19.1 Casting from primitive types to primitive types.

    • If TT is derived from xs:NOTATION, assume for the purposes of this rule that casting to xs:NOTATION succeeds.

  3. Cast the value down to the TT, as described in 19.3.3 Casting within a branch of the type hierarchy

19.3.5 Casting to union types

If the target type of a cast expression (or a constructor function) is a type with variety union, the supplied value must be one of the following:

  1. A value of type xs:string or xs:untypedAtomic. This case follows the general rules for casting from strings, and has already been described in 19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic.

    If the union type has a pattern facet, the pattern is tested against the supplied value after whitespace normalization, using the whiteSpace normalization rules of the member datatype against which validation succeeds.

  2. A value that is an instance of one of the atomic types in the transitive membership of the union type, and of the union type itself. This case has already been described in 19.3.2 Casting from derived types to parent types

    This situation only applies when the value is an instance of the union type, which means it will never apply when the union is derived by facet-based restriction from another union type.

  3. A value that is castable to one or more of the atomic types in the transitive membership of the union type (in the sense that the castable as operator returns true).

    In this case the supplied value is cast to each atomic type in the transitive membership of the union type in turn (in the order in which the member types appear in the declaration) until one of these casts is successful; if none of them is successful, a dynamic error occurs [err:FORG0001]. If the union type has constraining facets then the resulting value must satisfy these facets, otherwise a dynamic error occurs [err:FORG0001].

    If the union type has a pattern facet, the pattern is tested against the canonical representation of the result value.

    Only the atomic types in the transitive membership of the union type are considered. The union type may have list types in its transitive membership, but (unless the supplied value is of type xs:string or xs:untypedAtomic, in which case the rules in 19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic apply), any list types in the membership are effectively ignored.

If more than one of these conditions applies, then the casting is done according to the rules for the first condition that applies.

If none of these conditions applies, the cast fails with a dynamic error [err:FORG0001].

Example: consider a type U whose member types are xs:integer and xs:date.

  • The expression "123" cast as U returns the xs:integer value 123.

  • The expression current-date() cast as U returns the current date as an instance of xs:date.

  • The expression 23.1 cast as U returns the xs:integer value 23.

Example: consider a type V whose member types are xs:short and xs:negativeInteger.

  • The expression "-123" cast as V returns the xs:short value -123.

  • The expression "-100000" cast as V returns the xs:negativeInteger value -100000.

  • The expression 93.7 cast as V returns the xs:short value 93.

  • The expression "93.7" cast as V raises a dynamic error [err:FORG0001] on the grounds that the string "93.7" is not in the lexical space of the union type.

Example: consider a type W that is derived from the above type V by restriction, with a pattern facet of -?\d\d.

  • The expression "12" cast as V returns the xs:short value 12.

  • The expression "123" cast as V raises an dynamic error [err:FORG0001] on the grounds that the string "123" does not match the pattern facet.

19.3.6 Casting to list types

If the target type of a cast expression (or a constructor function) is a type with variety list, the supplied value must be of type xs:string or xs:untypedAtomic. The rules follow the general principle for all casts from xs:string outlined in 19.2 Casting from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic.

The semantics of the operation are consistent with validation: that is, the effect of casting a string S to a list type L is the same as constructing an element or attribute node whose string value is S, validating it using L as the governing type, and atomizing the resulting node. The result will always be either failure, or a sequence of zero or more atomic values each of which is an instance of the item type of L (or if the item type of L is a union type, an instance of one of the atomic types in its transitive membership).

If the item type of the list type is namespace-sensitive, then the namespace bindings in the static context will be used to resolve any namespace prefix, in the same way as when the target type is xs:QName.

If the list type has a pattern facet, the pattern must match the supplied value after collapsing whitespace (an operation equivalent to the use of the fn:normalize-space function).

For example, the expression cast "A B C D" as xs:NMTOKENS produces a sequence of four xs:NMTOKEN values, ("A", "B", "C", "D").

For example, given a user-defined type my:coordinates defined as a list of xs:integer with the facet <xs:length value="2"/>, the expression my:coordinates("2 -1") will return a sequence of two xs:integer values (2, -1), while the expression my:coordinates("1 2 3") will result in a dynamic error because the length of the list does not conform to the length facet. The expression my:coordinates("1.0 3.0") will also fail because the strings 1.0 and 3.0 are not in the lexical space of xs:integer.