---
name: "basex"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "basex"
version: "10.5-1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/basex"
---

# basex(1)

XML database system and XPath/XQuery processor (command line mode)

## NAME

**basex** - XML database system and XPath/XQuery processor (command line mode)

## SYNOPSIS

```
basex [-bcdiIoqrRstuvVwxz] [input]
```

## DESCRIPTION

**basex is a fast and powerful, yet light-weight and platform independent XML** **database system and XPath/XQuery processor.**

## OPTIONS

**A short description of option can be obtained from**

```
    $ basex -h
```

**or by browsing https://docs.basex.org/wiki/Command-Line\_Options#Standalone**

## DATABASE COMMANDS

**A list of supported Database commands can be obtained from**

```
    $ basex -c help
```

**or by browsing https://docs.basex.org/wiki/Commands**

## EXAMPLES

- •

  **XQuery evaluation (no database, no interaction, script mode):**

```
   $ basex 19+23
   42
   $ basex -q "<answer>{ 23+19 }</answer>"
   <answer>42</answer>
```

- •

  **Import an XML file into database, output its content (query its root) and be verbose:**

```
    $ basex -Vc "CREATE DB input /usr/share/doc/basex/examples/input.xml; XQUERY /"
    Database 'input' created in 136.84 ms.
    <html>
      <!-- Header -->
      <head id="0">
        <title>XML</title>
      </head>
      <!-- Body -->
      <body id="1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000CC">
        <h1>Databases &amp; XML</h1>
        <div align="right">
          <b>Assignments</b>
          <ul>
            <li>Exercise 1</li>
            <li>Exercise 2</li>
          </ul>
        </div>
      </body>
      <?pi bogus?>
    </html>
    Query: /
    Compiling:
    Result: root()
    Parsing: 5.08 ms
    Compiling: 27.2 ms
    Evaluating: 0.87 ms
    Printing: 13.7 ms
    Total Time: 46.86 ms
    Hit(s): 1 Item
    Updated: 0 Items
    Printed: 358 Bytes
    Query executed in 42.52 ms.
```

- •

  **XPath evaluation (with existing database):**

```
    $ basex -c "OPEN input; XQUERY //li[1]"
    <li>Exercise 1</li>
```

- •

  **Retrieve XML from the web and perform XPath query:**

```
    $ basex -q "doc('https://files.basex.org/examples/input.xml')//li"
    <li>Exercise 1</li>
    <li>Exercise 2</li>
```

- •

  **W3C XQuery Full-Text (make use of full-text index and perform fuzzy query with a typing error):**

```
    $ basex
    BaseX 7.1 [Standalone]
    Try "help" to get more information.
    > SET FTINDEX on
    Full-Text Index: ON
    > CREATE DB input /usr/share/doc/basex/examples/input.xml
    Database 'input' created in 94.42 ms.
    > XQUERY //b[text() contains text 'Asisgnment' using fuzzy]
    <b>Assignments</b>
    Query executed in 8.37 ms.
```

- •

  **Update the database and show result:**

```
    > XQUERY delete node //ul
    Query executed in 2.79 ms.
    > XQUERY replace value of node //b with 'Debian rules'
    Query executed in 2.94 ms.
    > XQUERY //div
    <div align="right">
      <b>Debian rules</b>
    </div>
    Query executed in 1.01 ms.
```

- •

  **Open an** *input* **xml file, execute a query and write result into file:**

```
    $ basex -i /usr/share/doc/basex/examples/input.xml -q //div -o out.xml
    $ cat out.xml
    <div align="right">
      <b>Assignments</b>
      <ul>
        <li>Exercise 1</li>
        <li>Exercise 2</li>
      </ul>
    </div>
```

- •

  **Query an already existing database called '***input***'. If a file named '***input***' exists in current working directory it takes precedence:**

```
    $ basex -i input -q //div
    <div align="right">
      <b>Assignments</b>
      <ul>
        <li>Exercise 1</li>
        <li>Exercise 2</li>
      </ul>
    </div>
```

- •

  **Let basex process query** *input* **from standard in:**

```
   $ echo '19+23' | basex -q-
   42
```

- •

  **Execute commands from script file:**

```
   $ cat commands.txt
   create db debian <debian_db/>
   xquery /
   list
   $ basex -C commands.txt | grep debian
   <debian_db/>
   debian              1          4639       debian.xml
```

- •

  **Parse non well-formed HTML (needs libtagsoup-java installed):**

```
   $ cat bad.html
   <html>
     <ul>
       <li>A
       <li>B
     </ul>
   </html>
   $ basex -c 'set parser html; set htmlopt method=html,nons=true; create db htmldb bad.html'
   $ basex -q "doc('htmldb')"
   <html>
     <body>
       <ul>
         <li>A</li>
         <li>B</li>
       </ul>
     </body>
   </html>
   Alternative:
   $ basex -q 'declare option db:parser "html"; doc("bad.html")'
   <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
     <body>
       <ul>
         <li>A</li>
         <li>B</li>
       </ul>
     </body>
   </html>
   For further documentation on how to configure the HTML Parser refer to
   https://docs.basex.org/wiki/Parsers#HTML_Parser
```

## SEE ALSO

**[basexgui(1)](/basexgui/1.md), [basexserver(1)](/basexserver/1.md), [basexclient(1)](/basexclient/1.md)**

```
   .basexhome                can be created by a user to mark a folder as home directory.
   .basex                    BaseX (standalone and server) properties
   .basexgui                 BaseX additional GUI properties
   .basexhistory             contains commands that have been typed in most recently.
   ${basexhome}/data         Default database directory
   ${basexhome}/data/.logs   Server logs
   ${basexhome}/repo         Package repository
```

**BaseX Documentation Wiki: https://docs.basex.org**

## HISTORY

**BaseX started as a research project of the Database and Information Systems** **Group (DBIS) at the University of Konstanz in 2005 and soon turned into a** **feature-rich open source XML database and XPath/XQuery processor.**

## LICENSE

**New (3-clause) BSD License**

## AUTHOR

**BaseX is primarily developed by Christian Gruen \<cg@basex.org\> with** **the help of various contributors \<https://basex.org/about/open-source/\>**

**The man page was written by Alexander Holupirek \<alex@holupirek.de\> while packaging BaseX for Debian GNU/Linux.**