You can delete zero or more nodes using a delete nodes query. For example, given the document named "mydoc.xml" in container "con.dbxml":

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<a>
   <b1>first child</b1>
   <b2>second child</b2><b4>inserted child</b4>
   <b3>third child</b3>
</a>

The following query deletes the b4 node:

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delete nodes doc("dbxml:/con.dbxml/mydoc.xml")/a/b4

The selection expression that you provide must be a non-updating expression, and the result must be a sequence of zero or more nodes. If the selection expression selects a node that has no parent, then the result is to delete the entire document from the container.