How to retrieve a collection of elements (LINQ to XML)

This article demonstrates the Elements method, which retrieves a collection of the child elements of an element.

Example: Iterate through the child elements of an element

This example iterates through the child elements of the purchaseOrder element. It uses XML document Sample XML file: Typical purchase order.

XElement po = XElement.Load("PurchaseOrder.xml");
IEnumerable<XElement> childElements =
    from el in po.Elements()
    select el;
foreach (XElement el in childElements)
    Console.WriteLine("Name: " + el.Name);

Dim po As XElement = XElement.Load("PurchaseOrder.xml")
Dim childElements As IEnumerable(Of XElement)
childElements = _
    From el In po.Elements() _
    Select el
For Each el As XElement In childElements
    Console.WriteLine("Name: " & el.Name.ToString())
Next

This example produces the following output:

Name: Address
Name: Address
Name: DeliveryNotes
Name: Items

See also

• LINQ to XML axes overview