I'm not sure what I'm missing here... :) select xpath_string($xml$<?xml version="1.0" ?> <f:foo xmlns:f="foo"> <f:bar>baz</f:bar> </f:foo> $xml$ ,'//f:bar/text()') This does not give me back "baz" as I was expecting it to... How does one clue-in the xpath functions to the namespaces in the XML document? ____________________________________________________________________________________ Got a little couch potato? Check out fun summer activities for kids. http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=oni_on_mail&p=summer+activities+for+kids&cs=bz