Options

This page is linked from the Getting Started Section.

The options listed on this page influence the way how database Commands are executed and XQuery expressions are evaluated. Two kinds of options exist:

  • Global Options are valid for all BaseX instances in the same JVM. This is particularly relevant if you are working with the client/server architecture.
  • Local options (all remaining ones) are specific to a client or session.

Values of options are either strings, numbers or booleans. Options are static and not bound to a single operation (for example, the next command). Various ways exist to access and change options:

  • The current value of an option can be requested with the SHOW OPTIONS command. Local options can be changed via SET (all global options, except for DEBUG, can only be changed at startup time). If an option is of type boolean, and if no value is specified, its current value is inverted.
  • The .basex configuration file is parsed by every new local BaseX instance. It contains all global options. Local options can be specified at the end of the file after the Local Options comment:
    # General Options
    DEBUG = false
    ...
    
    # Local Options
    CATALOG = etc/w3-catalog.xml
  • Initial values for global options can also be specified via system properties, which can be passed on with the -D flag on the command line, or with System.setProperty() before creating a BaseX instance. The specified keys need to be prefixed with org.basex.. An example:
    java -Dorg.basex.CATALOG=etc/w3-catalog.xml -cp BaseX.jar org.basex.BaseX \
      -c"SHOW OPTIONS catalog"
    
    CATALOG: etc/w3-catalog.xml
  • If the Mac OS X packaged application is used, global options can be set within the Info.plist file within the Contents folder of the application package. For example:
    <key>JVMOptions</key>
    <array>
      <string>-Dorg.basex.CATALOG=etc/w3-catalog.xml</string>
    </array>
  • In a Web Application, the default can be adjusted in the web.xml file as follows
    <context-param>
      <param-name>org.basex.catalog</param-name>
      <param-value>etc/w3-catalog.xml</param-value>
    </context-param>
  • In XQuery, local options can be set via option declarations and pragmas.

If options are changed by operations in the Graphical User Interface, the underlying commands are output in the Info View.

Global Options

Global options are constants. They can only be set in the configuration file or via system properties (see above). One exception is the DEBUG option, which can also be changed at runtime by users with admin permissions.

General Options

DEBUG

Syntax
DEBUG [boolean]
Defaultfalse
SummarySends debug information to STDERR. This option can be enabled to get additional information for development and debugging purposes. It can also be toggled on the command line with -d. Note that the amount of output can be overwhelming, so it should not be used productively.

DBPATH

Syntax
DBPATH [path]
Default{home}/data
SummaryPoints to the directory in which all databases are located.

LOGPATH

Syntax
LOGPATH [path]
Default.logs
SummaryPoints to the directory where log files are stored. Relative paths are resolved against the DBPATH directory.

REPOPATH

Syntax
REPOPATH [path]
Default{home}/repo
SummaryPoints to the Repository, in which all XQuery modules are located.

LANG

Syntax
LANG [language]
DefaultEnglish
SummarySpecifies the interface language.

FAIRLOCK

Syntax
FAIRLOCK [boolean]
Defaultfalse
SummaryDefines the locking strategy:
  • By default, non-fair locking is used. Read transactions are favored, and transactions that no not access databases can be evaluated even if the limit for parallel transactions (specified via PARALLEL) is reached. This prevents update operations from blocking all other requests. For example, the DBA can still be used to see which jobs are running even if the queue is full.
  • When fair locking is enabled, read and write transactions are treated equally (first in, first out). This avoids starvation of updates and should be used when prompt evaluation of updates is critical.

CACHETIMEOUT

Syntax
CACHETIMEOUT [seconds]
Default3600
SummarySpecifies how many seconds the results of asynchronously executed jobs are cached in main memory.

WRITESTORE

Added: New option.

Syntax
WRITESTORE [boolean]
Defaulttrue
SummaryIf enabled, writes the standard store to disk at shutdown time.

Client/Server Architecture

HOST

Syntax
HOST [host]
Defaultlocalhost
SummaryThis host name is used by the client when connecting to a server. This option can also be changed when running the client on the command line with -n.

PORT

Syntax
PORT [port]
Default1984
SummaryThis port is used by the client when connecting to a server. This option can also be changed when running the client on the command line with -p.

SERVERPORT

Syntax
SERVERPORT [port]
Default1984
SummaryThis is the port the database server is listening to. This option can also be changed when running the server on the command line with -p.

USER

Syntax
USER [name]
Defaultempty
SummaryRepresents a username, which is used for accessing the server or an HTTP service:
  • The default value is overwritten if a client specifies its own credentials.
  • If the default value is empty, login will only be possible if the client specifies credentials.
  • The option can also be changed on the command line with -U.

PASSWORD

Syntax
PASSWORD [password]
Defaultempty
SummaryRepresents a password, which is used for accessing the server:
  • The default value is overwritten if a client specifies its own credentials.
  • If the default value is empty, authentication will only be possible if the client supplies credentials.
  • The option can also be changed on the command line with -P.
  • Please note that it is a security risk to specify your password in plain text.

AUTHMETHOD

Syntax
AUTHMETHOD [method]
DefaultBasic
SummarySpecifies the default authentication method used by the HTTP server for negotiating credentials. Allowed values are Basic, Digest, and Custom:
  • If basic access is chosen, the client can still request digest authentication.
  • This is different for digest access, which cannot be overwritten.
  • With custom authentication, the server will not do any authentication.

SERVERHOST

Syntax
SERVERHOST [host|ip]
Defaultempty
SummaryThis is the host name or IP address the server is bound to. If the option is set to an empty string (which is the default), the server accepts requests from all clients.

PROXYHOST

Syntax
PROXYHOST [host]
Defaultempty
SummaryThis is the host name of a proxy server. If the value is an empty string, it is ignored.

PROXYPORT

Syntax
PROXYPORT [port]
Default0
SummaryThis is the port number of a proxy server. If the value is set to 0, it is ignored.

NONPROXYHOSTS

Syntax
NONPROXYHOSTS [hosts]
Defaultempty
SummaryThis is a list of hosts that should be directly accessed. If the value is an empty string, it is ignored.

IGNORECERT

Syntax
IGNORECERT [boolean]
Defaultfalse
SummaryDisable SSL hostname verification and ignore untrusted certificates when connecting to servers.

TIMEOUT

Syntax
TIMEOUT [seconds]
Default30
SummarySpecifies the maximum time a transaction triggered by a client may take. An operation is interrupted when it takes longer than the specified number of seconds. Running update operations are not affected by this timeout, as this would corrupt the integrity of the database. The timeout is disabled if the timeout is set to 0. It is ignored for operations with admin permissions.

KEEPALIVE

Syntax
KEEPALIVE [seconds]
Default600
SummarySpecifies the maximum time a client is remembered by the server. If there has been no interaction with a client for a longer time than specified by this timeout, it will be disconnected. Running operations will not be affected by this option. The check is disabled if the value is set to 0.

PARALLEL

Syntax
PARALLEL [number]
Default8
SummaryDenotes the maximum allowed number of parallel transactions:
  • If FAIRLOCK is enabled, the number of parallel transactions will never exceed the specified value.
  • If the option is disabled (which is the default), the limit only applies to transactions that access databases.
  • The main reason for allowing parallel operations is to prevent slow transactions from blocking all other operations. A higher number of parallel operations may increase disk activity and thus slow down queries. In some cases, a single transaction may even give you better results than any parallel activity.

LOG

Syntax
LOG [boolean]
Defaulttrue
SummaryTurns Logging of server operations and HTTP requests on/off. This option can also be changed when running the server on the command line with -z.

LOGMSGMAXLEN

Syntax
LOGMSGMAXLEN [length]
Default1000
SummarySpecifies the maximum length of a single log message.

LOGTRACE

Syntax
LOGTRACE [boolean]
Defaulttrue
SummaryIf BaseX is running as a Web Application, trace output (generated via fn:trace, fn:message, prof:time and similar functions) is written to the database logs. When this option is disabled, trace output is redirected to standard error, as it is known from the standalone version of BaseX.

HTTP Services

Most HTTP options are defined in the jetty.xml and web.xml configuration files in the webapp/WEB-INF directory. Some additional BaseX-specific options exist that are set before the web server is started:

WEBPATH

Syntax
WEBPATH [path]
Default{home}/webapp
SummaryPoints to the directory in which all the Web Application contents are stored, including XQuery, Script, RESTXQ and configuration files:
  • The option is ignored if BaseX is deployed as web servlet.
  • It cannot be assigned via the web.xml file, as it is evaluated before the configuration files are parsed.

GZIP

Syntax
GZIP [boolean]
Defaultfalse
SummaryJetty provides a Gzip handler for dynamically uncompressing requests and compressing responses. This feature can be enabled if Jetty is started via the BaseX HTTP Server:
  • The option can also be enabled on the command line with -g.
  • It cannot be assigned via the web.xml file, as the option is evaluated before the configuration files are parsed.
  • In addition to the Jetty defaults (GET requests, exclusion of binaries, MSIE 6.0, etc.), POST and PUT requests are supported.

RESTXQPATH

Syntax
RESTXQPATH [path]
Defaultempty
SummaryPoints to the directory which contains the RESTXQ modules of a web application. Relative paths are resolved against the WEBPATH directory.

PARSERESTXQ

Syntax
PARSERESTXQ [PARSERESTXQ]
Default3
SummaryTimeout after which the RESTXQ directory is parsed for changes:
  • If 0 is specified, the directory is parsed every time a RESTXQ function is called.
  • A positive value defines the idle time, in seconds, after which parsing is enforced. The default value is 3: Changes in the RESTXQ directory is detected after 3 seconds without RESTXQ function calls.
  • Monitoring is completely disabled if a negative value is specified.

See RESTXQ Preliminaries for more details.

RESTXQERRORS

Syntax
RESTXQERRORS [RESTXQERRORS]
Defaulttrue
SummaryReports parsing errors in XQuery modules in the RESTXQ directory and returns the full error message and stack trace to the client. By default, this option is enabled. In a production environment, it can be disabled to suppress errors that should not be seen by the user of an API (the full error information can still be looked up in the database logs). See RESTXQ Error Handling for more details.

RESTPATH

Syntax
RESTPATH [path]
Defaultempty
SummaryPoints to the directory which contains XQuery files and command scripts, which can be evaluated via the REST run operation. Relative paths are resolved against the WEBPATH directory.

HTTPLOCAL

Syntax
HTTPLOCAL [boolean]
Defaultfalse
SummaryBy default, if BaseX is run as Web Application, the database server instance is started in addition, which can then be addressed by Clients via the database port (see PORT). If the option is set to true, no database server is launched.

STOPPORT

Syntax
STOPPORT [port]
Default8081
SummaryIf Jetty is started from BaseX, this is the port on which the HTTP Server can be closed:
  • The listener for stopping the web server will only be started if the specified value is greater than 0.
  • The option is ignored if BaseX is used as a Web Application or started via Maven.
  • This option can also be changed when running the HTTP server on the command line with -s.

Create Options

General

MAINMEM

Syntax
MAINMEM [boolean]
Defaultfalse
SummaryIf this option is turned on, new databases arecreated in main memory:
  • Most queries are evaluated faster in main-memory mode, but all data is lost if the BaseX instance in which the database was created is shut down.
  • It is not possible to store binary resources in a main-memory database.
  • A main-memory database will have no disk representation. However, it is possible to export the database via the EXPORT command, and create a new database from the exported file in a second step.
  • This option will not be available for db:create because the database would not be accessible anymore after database creation, i.e., outside the query scope.

ADDCACHE

Syntax
ADDCACHE [boolean]
Defaultfalse
SummaryIf this option is activated, data structures of documents will first be cached to disk before being added to the final database. This option is helpful when larger documents need to be added, and if the existing heuristics cannot estimate the input size (e.g. when adding directories or sending input streams).

Parsing

CREATEFILTER

Syntax
CREATEFILTER [filter]
Default*.xml
SummaryFile filter in the Glob Syntax, which is applied whenever directories are scanned during the creation or modification of databases, or the parsing of files in main-memory.

ADDARCHIVES

Syntax
ADDARCHIVES [boolean]
Defaulttrue
SummaryIf this option is set to true, files within archives are parsed whenever new databases are created or resources are added to a database. Files with the following extensions are detected as archives: zip, gz, tgz, tar, xar, docx, pptx, xlsx, odt, ods, epub, and idml.

ARCHIVENAME

Syntax
ARCHIVENAME [boolean]
Defaultfalse
SummaryIf this option is set to true, the file name of parsed archives is included in the document paths.

SKIPCORRUPT

Syntax
SKIPCORRUPT [boolean]
Defaultfalse
SummarySkips corrupt (i.e., not well-formed) files while creating a database or adding new documents. If this option is activated, document updates are slowed down, as all files are parsed twice. Next, main-memory consumption is higher, as parsed files are cached in main memory.

ADDRAW

Syntax
ADDRAW [boolean]
Defaultfalse
SummaryIf this option is enabled, all resources that are filtered out by the CREATEFILTER option while being added to a database are stored as raw files instead (i.e., in their binary representation).

PARSER

Syntax
PARSER [type]
DefaultXML
SummaryDefines a parser for importing new files to the database. Available parsers are XML, JSON, CSV, TEXT, HTML, and RAW. HTML input is parsed as XML if Tagsoup is not found in the class path.

CSVPARSER

Syntax
CSVPARSER [options]
Defaultempty
SummarySpecifies the way how CSV data is parsed. Keys and values are delimited with =, and multiple options are delimited with ,. The available options (except for the additional encoding option) are described in the CSV Functions.
Examples
encoding=CP1252,header=true
Parses the input as CP1252 and the first line as header.

JSONPARSER

Syntax
JSONPARSER [options]
Defaultempty
SummarySpecifies the way how JSON data is parsed. Keys and values are delimited with =, and multiple options are delimited with ,. The available options (except for the additional encoding option) are described for the JSON Functions.
Examples
format=jsonml,lax=yes
Interprets the input as JSONML and uses lax parsing.

HTMLPARSER

Syntax
HTMLPARSER [options]
Defaultempty
SummarySpecifies the way how HTML data is parsed. Keys and values are delimited with =, and multiple options are delimited with ,. The available options are described in the Parsers article.
Examples
encoding=Shift-JIS,nons=true
Parses the input as Shift-JIS and suppresses namespaces.
lexical=true
Preserves comments.

XML Parsing

STRIPWS

STRIPWS

Syntax
STRIPWS [boolean]
Defaultfalse
SummaryMany XML documents include whitespace that have been added to improve readability. This option controls the white-space processing mode of the XML parser:
  • If the option is set to true, leading and trailing whitespace from text nodes is stripped and empty text nodes are discarded.
  • The flag should be disabled if a document contains mixed content.
  • The flag can also be enabled on the command line with -w.
  • If the option is enabled, whitespace of an element and its descendants can locally be preserved with the xml:space="preserve" attribute:
<xml>
  <title>
    Demonstrating the STRIPWS flag
  </title>
  <text xml:space="preserve">To <b>be</b>, or not to <b>be</b>, …</text>
</xml>

If whitespace is stripped, indent=yes can be assigned to the SERIALIZER option to get properly indented XML output.

See BaseX 10: Whitespace for more information on whitespace handling.

STRIPNS

Syntax
STRIPNS [boolean]
Defaultfalse
SummaryStrips all namespaces from an XML document while parsing.

INTPARSE

Syntax
INTPARSE [boolean]
Defaultfalse
SummaryUses the internal XML parser instead of the standard Java XML parser. Reasons for using the internal parser are:
  • Performance: Documents, in particular small ones, are parsed faster.
  • Entity support: More than 2000 HTML character references are decoded.
  • Fault tolerance: Invalid characters are replaced with the Unicode replacement character FFFD (�).

By default, Java’s Xerces parser is used as it supports all features of the XML standard, including XINCLUDE, or recursive entity expansion if specified in DTDs.

DTD

Syntax
DTD [boolean]
Defaultfalse
SummaryParses referenced DTDs and resolves XML entities. By default, this option is switched to false, as many DTDs are located externally, which may completely block the process of creating new databases. The CATALOG option can be changed to locally resolve DTDs.

XINCLUDE

Syntax
XINCLUDE [boolean]
Defaulttrue
SummaryResolves XInclude inclusion tags and merges referenced XML documents. By default, this option is switched to true. This option is only available if the standard Java XML Parser is used (see INTPARSE).

CATALOG

Syntax
CATALOG [path]
Defaultempty
SummarySemicolon-separated list of XML catalog files to resolve URIs. See Catalog Resolvers for more details.

Indexing

The following options control the creation of index structures. The current values are considered if a new database is created. See Indexes for more details.

TEXTINDEX

Syntax
TEXTINDEX [boolean]
Defaulttrue
SummaryCreates a text index whenever a new database is created. A text index speeds up queries with equality comparisons on text nodes. See Text Index for more details.

ATTRINDEX

Syntax
ATTRINDEX [boolean]
Defaulttrue
SummaryCreates an attribute index whenever a new database is created. An attribute index speeds up queries with equality comparisons on attribute values. See Attribute Index for more details.

TOKENINDEX

Syntax
TOKENINDEX [boolean]
Defaulttrue
SummaryCreates a token index whenever a new database is created. A token index speeds up searches for single tokens in attribute values. See Token Index for more details.

FTINDEX

Syntax
FTINDEX [boolean]
Defaultfalse
SummaryCreates a full-text index whenever a new database is created. A full-text index speeds up queries with full-text expressions. See Full-Text Index for more details.

TEXTINCLUDE

Syntax
TEXTINCLUDE [names]
Defaultempty
SummaryDefines name patterns for the parent elements of texts that are indexed. By default, all text nodes are indexed. Name patterns are separated by commas See Selective Indexing for more details.

ATTRINCLUDE

Syntax
ATTRINCLUDE [names]
Defaultempty
SummaryDefines name patterns for the attributes to be indexed. By default, all attribute nodes are indexed. Name patterns are separated by commas. See Selective Indexing for more details.

TOKENINCLUDE

Syntax
TOKENINCLUDE [names]
Defaultempty
SummaryDefines name patterns for the attributes to be indexed. By default, tokens in all attribute nodes are indexed. Name patterns are separated by commas. See Selective Indexing for more details.

FTINCLUDE

Syntax
FTINCLUDE [names]
Defaultempty
SummaryDefines name patterns for the parent elements of texts that are indexed. By default, all text nodes are indexed. Name patterns are separated by commas. See Selective Indexing for more details.

MAXLEN

Syntax
MAXLEN [int]
Default96
SummarySpecifies the maximum length for strings to be stored in index structures. The value of this option is assigned once to a new database, and can only be changed by creating a new database or doing a full optimization.

MAXCATS

Syntax
MAXCATS [int]
Default100
SummarySpecifies the maximum number of distinct values (categories) that are stored together with the element/attribute names or unique paths in the Name Index or Path Index. The value of this option is assigned once to a new database, and cannot be changed after that.

UPDINDEX

Syntax
UPDINDEX [boolean]
Defaultfalse
SummaryIf turned on, incremental indexing is enabled:
  • The current value of this option is assigned to new databases. It can be changed for existing databases by running OPTIMIZE with the ALL keyword or db:optimize and true() as second argument.
  • After each update, the value indexes are refreshed as well. Incremental updates are currently not available for the full-text index and database statistics.
  • Find more details in the article on Index Structures.

AUTOOPTIMIZE

Syntax
AUTOOPTIMIZE [boolean]
Defaultfalse
SummaryIf turned on, auto optimization is applied to new databases:
  • With each update, outdated indexes and database statistics are recreated.
  • As a result, the index structures will always be up-to-date.
  • However, updates can take much longer, so this option should only be activated for medium-sized databases.
  • The value of this option is assigned once to a new database. It can be reassigned by running OPTIMIZE or db:optimize.

SPLITSIZE

Syntax
SPLITSIZE [num]
Default0
SummaryThis option affects the construction of new value indexes. It controls the number of index build operations that are performed before writing partial index data to disk:
  • By default, if the value is set to 0, some heuristics are applied, based on the current memory consumption. Usually, this works fine.
  • If explicit garbage collection is disabled when running Java (e.g. via the JVM option -XX:+DisableExplicitGC), you may need to choose a custom split size.
  • You can e.g. start with 1000000 (one million) index operations and adjust this value in the next steps.
  • The larger the assigned value is, the fewer splits take place, and main-memory consumption increases.

Full-Text Indexing

STEMMING

Syntax
STEMMING [boolean]
Defaultfalse
SummaryIf true, all tokens are stemmed during full-text indexing, using a language-specific stemmer implementation. By default, tokens will not be stemmed. See Full-Text Index for more details.

CASESENS

Syntax
CASESENS [boolean]
Defaultfalse
SummaryIf true, the case of tokens is preserved during full-text indexing. By default, case is ignored (all tokens are indexed in lower case). See Full-Text Index for more details.

DIACRITICS

Syntax
DIACRITICS [boolean]
Defaultfalse
SummaryIf set to true, diacritics are preserved during full-text indexing. By default, diacritics are removed. See Full-Text Index for more details.

LANGUAGE

Syntax
LANGUAGE [lang]
Defaulten
SummaryThe specified language will influence the way how texts are tokenized and stemmed. It can be the name of a language or a language code. See Full-Text Index for more details.

STOPWORDS

Syntax
STOPWORDS [path]
Defaultempty
SummaryIf a text file with stop words is specified, frequently used terms contained in that file are ignored when a full-text index is created. A stop word list may decrease the size of the full-text index and speed up your queries. See Full-Text Index for more details.

Query Options

QUERYINFO

Syntax
QUERYINFO [boolean]
Defaultfalse
SummaryPrints more information on internal query rewritings, optimizations, and performance. By default, this info is shown in the Info View in the GUI. It can also be toggled on the command line with -V.

MIXUPDATES

Syntax
MIXUPDATES [MIXUPDATES]
Defaultfalse
SummaryAllows queries to contain both updating and non-updating expressions. All updating constraints are turned off, and nodes to be returned are copied before they are modified by an updating expression. By default, in compliance with the XQuery Update Facility, this option is set to false. See Returning Results for more details.

BINDINGS

Updated: The Clark notation was replaced with the Expanded QNames notation.

Syntax
BINDINGS [vars]
Defaultempty
SummaryContains external variables to be bound to a query. The string must comply with the following rules:
  • Variable names and values must be separated by the equals sign =.
  • Multiple variables must be delimited by the comma sign ,.
  • Commas in values must be duplicated.
  • Variables may optionally be introduced with a leading dollar sign.
  • If a variable uses a namespace different from the default namespace, it can be specified with the Expanded QNames notation.

This option can also be set on the command line with -b.

Examples
$a=1,$b=2
Binds the values 1 and 2 to the variables $a and $b.
a=1,,2
Binds the value 1,2 to the variable $a.
{URI}a=x
Binds the value x to the variable $a with the namespace URI.
In the Command Script, the value hello world! is bound to the variable $GREETING.

INLINELIMIT

Syntax
INLINELIMIT [INLINELIMIT]
Default50
SummaryThis option controls inlining of XQuery functions:
  • The XQuery compiler inlines functions to speed up query evaluation and to allow for further optimizations.
  • A function body will be inlined if its number of expressions does not exceed the limit specified by this option.
  • Function inlining can be disabled by setting the value to 0. This can be useful for debugging, as you will get a full stack trace when an error occurs.
  • The limit can be locally overwritten via the %basex:inline annotation (follow the link to get more information on function inlining).

UNROLLLIMIT

Syntax
UNROLLLIMIT [UNROLLLIMIT]
Default5
SummaryThis option controls the unroll limit:
  • Loops with few iterations are unrolled by the XQuery compiler to enable further optimizations.
  • If the limit is increased, more optimizations will take place, but the memory consumption and compile time will increase.
  • See Loop Unrolling for more details.

ENFORCEINDEX

Syntax
ENFORCEINDEX [boolean]
Defaultfalse
SummaryEnforces index rewritings in path expressions. See Enforce Rewritings for details.

COPYNODE

Syntax
COPYNODE [boolean]
Defaulttrue
SummaryWhen creating new nodes in XQuery via Node Constructors, copies of all enclosed nodes are created, and the copied nodes get new node identities. As a result, the following query yields false:
let $a := <a/>
let $b := <b>{ $a }</b>
return $b/a is $a

This step can be expensive and memory consuming. If the option is disabled, child nodes will only be linked to the new parent nodes, and the upper query returns true. The option should be used carefully as it changes the semantics of XQuery. It should preferably be used in Pragmas.

TAILCALLS

Syntax
TAILCALLS [TAILCALLS]
Default256
SummarySpecifies how many stack frames of tail-calls are allowed on the stack at any time. When this limit is reached, tail-call optimization takes place and some call frames are eliminated. The feature can be turned off by setting the value to -1.

WITHDB

Syntax
WITHDB [WITHDB]
Defaulttrue
SummaryBy default, resources specified via fn:doc and fn:collection are looked up both in the database and in the file system. If you always use db:get to access databases, it is recommendable to disable this option:
  • No locks are created for the two functions (see limitations of database locking for more details).
  • Access to local and external resources is faster, as the database lookup is skipped.

DEFAULTDB

Syntax
DEFAULTDB [DEFAULTDB]
Defaultfalse
SummaryIf this option is turned on, paths specified in the fn:doc and fn:collection functions will first be resolved against a database that has been opened in the global context outside the query (e.g. by the OPEN command). If the path does not match any existing resources, it is resolved as described in the article on accessing database resources.

FORCECREATE

Syntax
FORCECREATE [boolean]
Defaultfalse
SummaryBy enabling this option, database instances are created if the XQuery functions fn:doc and fn:collection are called.

CHECKSTRINGS

Syntax
CHECKSTRINGS [boolean]
Defaulttrue
SummaryBy default, characters from external sources that are invalid in XML will trigger an error. If the option is set to false, these characters are replaced with the Unicode replacement character FFFD (�). The option affects Java Bindings and string conversion and input functions such as archive:create, archive:extract-text, and archive:update.

WRAPJAVA

Syntax
WRAPJAVA [mode]
Defaultsome
SummaryDefines the way how values that result from Java code invocation are converted to XQuery items. Allowed values: none, all, some, instance, and void. See Java Bindings for further details.

LSERROR

Syntax
LSERROR [error]
Default0
SummaryThis option specifies the maximum Levenshtein error for fuzzy full-text matching. By default, if 0 is assigned, the error value is calculated dynamically. See Fuzzy Querying for more details.

RUNQUERY

Syntax
RUNQUERY [boolean]
Defaulttrue
SummarySpecifies if a query is executed or parsed only. This option can also be changed on the command line with -R.

RUNS

Syntax
RUNS [num]
Default1
SummarySpecifies how often a query is evaluated. The result is serialized only once, and the measured times are averages of all runs. This option can also be changed on the command line with -r.

Serialization Options

SERIALIZE

Syntax
SERIALIZE [boolean]
Defaulttrue
SummaryResults of XQuery expressions are serialized if this option is turned on. For debugging purposes and performance measurements, this option can be set to false. It can also be disabled on the command line with -z.

SERIALIZER

Syntax
SERIALIZER [params]
Defaultempty
SummaryParameters for serializing query results:
  • Names and values are separated by the equals sign =.
  • Multiple parameters are delimited by the comma sign ,.
  • Commas must be duplicated if they appear as literals in values.

The option can also be set on the command line with -s.

Examples
indent=yes
Enables automatic indentation of XML nodes. This is recommended if whitespace has been stripped from a document (see STRIPWS).
encoding=US-ASCII,omit-xml-declaration=no
Sets the encoding to US-ASCII and prints the XML declaration.
item-separator=,,
Separates serialized items by a single comma.

EXPORTER

Syntax
EXPORTER [params]
Defaultempty
SummaryParameters for exporting documents of a database, and writing files after updates via the WRITEBACK option:
  • Names and values are separated by the equals sign =.
  • Multiple parameters are delimited by the comma sign ,.
  • Commas must be duplicated if they appear as literals in values.
See Serialization for more details.
Examples
indent=no,omit-xml-declaration=no
Disables automatic indentation of XML nodes, outputs the XML declaration.
method=csv,csv=header=true,,quotes=true
Export documents as CSV with headers and quotes enabled.

XMLPLAN

Syntax
XMLPLAN [boolean]
Defaultfalse
SummaryPrints the execution plan of an XQuery expression in its XML representation. This option can also be toggled on the command line with -x.

FULLPLAN

Syntax
FULLPLAN [boolean]
Defaultfalse
SummaryAttaches the file path, line and column of the expressions in the original query string to the query plan. Values (items and sequences) have no input information attached.

Other Options

AUTOFLUSH

AUTOFLUSH

Syntax
AUTOFLUSH [boolean]
Defaulttrue
SummaryFlushes database buffers to disk after each update. If this option is set to false, bulk operations (multiple single updates) are evaluated faster. As a drawback, the chance of data loss increases if the database is not explicitly flushed via the FLUSH command.

WRITEBACK

Syntax
WRITEBACK [boolean]
Defaultfalse
SummaryPropagates updates on main-memory instances of files that have been retrieved via fn:doc and fn:collection back to disk:
  • This option can also be toggled on the command line with -u.
  • Please take in mind that no backup is created from your original files.
  • The serialization options can be controlled via the EXPORTER option.

MAXSTAT

Syntax
MAXSTAT [num]
Default30
SummarySpecifies the maximum number of index occurrences printed by the INFO INDEX command.

Changelog

Version 11.0
  • Added: WRITESTORE to write the standard store to disk at shutdown time.
  • Updated: BINDINGS: The Clark notation was replaced with the Expanded QNames notation.
  • Removed: TEXTPARSER
Version 10.0
  • Updated: IGNORECERT: Additionally disable hostname verification.
  • Updated: CATALOG: Renamed (before: CATFILE).
  • Updated: STRIPWS: Renamed (before: CHOP), new default: false.
  • Removed: COMPPLAN, IGNOREHOSTNAME
Version 9.7
  • Updated: GZIP: Support for POST and PUT requests.
Version 9.6Version 9.5
  • Updated: INLINELIMIT: default reduced to 50.
  • Updated: RESTXQERRORS: additionally suppress stack trace in HTTP response
Version 9.4Version 9.3Version 9.2Version 9.0Version 8.6
  • Added: FAIRLOCK, PARSERESTXQ
  • Removed: GLOBALLOCK (exclusive use of database lock)
  • Removed: QUERYPATH (will now be internally assigned)
  • Removed: CACHERESTXQ (replaced with PARSERESTXQ)
Version 8.5Version 8.4Version 8.3Version 8.2
  • Removed: EVENTPORT, CACHEQUERY
Version 8.1Version 8.0Version 7.8.1Version 7.8Version 7.7Version 7.6
  • Added: GLOBALLOCK
  • Added: store local options in configuration file after # Local Options comments.
Version 7.5
  • Added: options can now be set via system properties
  • Added: a pragma expression can be used to locally change database options
  • Added: USER, PASSWORD, LOG, LOGMSGMAXLEN, WEBPATH, RESTXQPATH, HTTPLOCAL, CREATEONLY, STRIPNS
  • Removed: HTTPPATH; HTTPPORT: jetty.xml configuration file is used instead
  • Removed: global options cannot be changed anymore during the lifetime of a BaseX instance
Version 7.3
  • Updated: KEEPALIVE, TIMEOUT: default values changed
  • Removed: WILDCARDS; new index supports both fuzzy and wildcard queries
  • Removed: SCORING; new scoring model will focus on lengths of text nodes and match options
Version 7.2Version 7.1Version 7.0

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