XContainer.Descendants Method

Definition

Namespace:

System.Xml.Linq

Assembly:

System.Xml.XDocument.dll

Returns a collection of the descendant elements for this document or element, in document order.

Overloads

Descendants()	Returns a collection of the descendant elements for this document or element, in document order.
Descendants(XName)	Returns a filtered collection of the descendant elements for this document or element, in document order. Only elements that have a matching XName are included in the collection.

Remarks

This method uses deferred execution.

Descendants()

Source:

XContainer.cs

Returns a collection of the descendant elements for this document or element, in document order.

public:
 System::Collections::Generic::IEnumerable<System::Xml::Linq::XElement ^> ^ Descendants();

public System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<System.Xml.Linq.XElement> Descendants ();

member this.Descendants : unit -> seq<System.Xml.Linq.XElement>

Public Function Descendants () As IEnumerable(Of XElement)

Returns

IEnumerable<XElement>

An IEnumerable<T> of XElement containing the descendant elements of the XContainer.

Examples

The following example creates an XML tree, and then uses this axis method to retrieve the descendants.

XElement xmlTree = new XElement("Root",  
    new XAttribute("Att1", "AttributeContent"),  
    new XElement("Child",  
        new XText("Some text"),  
        new XElement("GrandChild", "element content")  
    )  
);  
IEnumerable<XElement> de =  
    from el in xmlTree.Descendants()  
    select el;  
foreach (XElement el in de)  
    Console.WriteLine(el.Name);  

' Attributes are not nodes, so will not be returned by DescendantNodes.  
Dim xmlTree As XElement = _  
    <Root Att1="AttributeContent">  
        <Child>Some text  
            <GrandChild>element content</GrandChild>  
        </Child>  
    </Root>  
Dim de = From el In xmlTree.Descendants _  
         Select el  

For Each el In de  
    Console.WriteLine(el.Name)  
Next  

This example produces the following output:

Child  
GrandChild  

Remarks

Note that this method will not return itself in the resulting IEnumerable<T>. See DescendantsAndSelf if you need to include the current XElement in the results.

This method uses deferred execution.

See also

• DescendantsAndSelf()
• DescendantNodes()
• Elements
• LINQ to XML overview

Descendants(XName)

Source:

XContainer.cs

Returns a filtered collection of the descendant elements for this document or element, in document order. Only elements that have a matching XName are included in the collection.

public:
 System::Collections::Generic::IEnumerable<System::Xml::Linq::XElement ^> ^ Descendants(System::Xml::Linq::XName ^ name);

public System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<System.Xml.Linq.XElement> Descendants (System.Xml.Linq.XName? name);

member this.Descendants : System.Xml.Linq.XName -> seq<System.Xml.Linq.XElement>

Public Function Descendants (name As XName) As IEnumerable(Of XElement)

Parameters

name

XName

The XName to match.

Returns

IEnumerable<XElement>

An IEnumerable<T> of XElement containing the descendant elements of the XContainer that match the specified XName.

Examples

The following example prints all descendants of an element.

// Attributes are not nodes, so will not be returned by DescendantNodes.  
XElement xmlTree = new XElement("Root",  
    new XAttribute("Att1", "AttributeContent"),  
    new XElement("Child",  
        new XText("Some text"),  
        new XElement("GrandChild", "element content")  
    )  
);  
IEnumerable<XElement> de =  
    from el in xmlTree.Descendants("Child")  
    select el;  
foreach (XElement el in de)  
    Console.WriteLine(el.Name);  

' Attributes are not nodes, so will not be returned by the descendants axis.  
Dim xmlTree As XElement = _   
    <Root Att1="AttributeContent">  
         <Child>Some text  
             <GrandChild>element content</GrandChild>  
         </Child>  
     </Root>  

Dim de = From el In xmlTree...<Child> _  
         Select el  

For Each el In de  
    Console.WriteLine(el.Name)  
Next  

This example produces the following output:

Child  

The following is the same example, but in this case the XML is in a namespace. For more information, see Work with XML Namespaces.

// Attributes are not nodes, so will not be returned by DescendantNodes.  
XNamespace aw = "http://www.adventure-works.com";  
XElement xmlTree = new XElement(aw + "Root",  
    new XAttribute(aw + "Att1", "AttributeContent"),  
    new XElement(aw + "Child",  
        new XText("Some text"),  
        new XElement(aw + "GrandChild", "element content")  
    )  
);  
IEnumerable<XElement> de =  
    from el in xmlTree.Descendants(aw + "Child")  
    select el;  
foreach (XElement el in de)  
    Console.WriteLine(el.Name);  

Imports <xmlns:aw = "http://www.adventure-works.com">  

Module Module1  
    Sub Main()  
        ' Attributes are not nodes, so will not be returned by the descendants axis.  
        Dim xmlTree As XElement = _   
            <aw:Root aw:Att1="AttributeContent">  
                 <aw:Child>Some text  
                     <aw:GrandChild>element content</aw:GrandChild>  
                 </aw:Child>  
             </aw:Root>  

        Dim de = From el In xmlTree...<aw:Child> _  
                 Select el  

        For Each el In de  
            Console.WriteLine(el.Name)  
        Next  
    End Sub  
End Module  

This example produces the following output:

{http://www.adventure-works.com}Child  

Remarks

This method uses deferred execution.

See also

• DescendantNodes()
• Elements
• LINQ to XML overview