--- schema_version: "1" id: 3559ab57ba909469af70eb7eb729ee8586a669ddf3cc2ed10c595e9af0f1565b title: Select XML Elements collection: mulesoft version: current locale: en-us portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/mulesoft/current/en-us/dataweave/2.11/dataweave-cookbook-select-xml-elements.md canonical_url: https://docs.mulesoft.com/dataweave/2.11/dataweave-cookbook-select-xml-elements source_site: docs.mulesoft.com content_type: documentation content_hash: 92eaf3f3bb8fb8daf23117f48d559cbf52e37c25c9e0ba3c44a5f08a35834213 description: MuleSoft Documentation Site release: "2.11" latest: false --- --- product: DataWeave version: 2.11 keywords: studio, anypoint, transform, transformer, format, xml, json, dataweave, data weave, datamapper, dwl, dfl, dw, output structure, input structure --- # Select XML Elements > For the full documentation index, see: https://docs.mulesoft.com/llms.txt DataWeave provides a number of [selectors](https://docs.mulesoft.com/dataweave/2.11/dataweave-selectors) for traversing the structure of input data and returning matching values. The following examples use a single-value DataWeave selector (`.`) to extract data from XML elements. The XML markup language requires a single root element. In the following example, the selector on the root (`language`) is able to extract the child element because the child has no siblings. DataWeave Script: ```dataweave %dw 2.0 output application/xml --- payload.language ``` Input XML Payload: ```xml DataWeave ``` Output XML: ```xml DataWeave ``` To return all subelements of the root element in a valid XML structure with a single root, the following script uses a DataWeave key to specify a new element name (`myroot`) and selects the root (`root`) to return its value. A script that fails to return a single XML root produces the following error: `Trying to output non-whitespace characters outside main element tree (in prolog or epilog)…`. DataWeave Script: ```dataweave %dw 2.0 output application/xml --- { myroot: payload.root } ``` Input XML Payload: ```xml SE1 E2 ``` Output XML: ```xml SE1 E2 ``` The following example uses the name of the child element (`name`) with the single-value selector to select its value. Notice how `payload.language.name` navigates to the child element. The script also provides a root element for the value so that DataWeave can construct valid XML. DataWeave Script: ```dataweave %dw 2.0 output application/xml --- { newname : payload.language.name } ``` Input XML Payload: ```xml DataWeave 2.0 ``` Output XML: ```xml DataWeave ``` The following example uses an index to return the value of the second child element from the input XML. Notice that DataWeave treats child elements as indices of an array, so it can select the second child by using the index `language[1]`. The result is a single XML element. DataWeave Script: ```dataweave %dw 2.0 output application/xml --- { version : payload.language[1] } ``` Input XML Payload: ```xml DataWeave 2.0 ``` Output XML: ```xml 2.0 ``` If multiple child elements of the input have the same name, use the index to select the value of the child. The following example selects a subelement of a child element. DataWeave Script: ```dataweave %dw 2.0 output application/xml --- { mysubelement : payload.root[0].subelement1 } ``` Input XML Payload: ```xml SE1 E2 ``` Output XML: ```xml SE1 ```