26. The method of claim 25 in which the SQL query provides the same result as the following: select i.nodename, p.startpos, p.endpos, p.nodetype, p.nodeval from path_table p, path_index_table i, (select docid, startpos, endpos from path_table where rowid = :1) p2 where p.docid = p2.docid and p.startpos >= p2.startpos and p.endpos <= p2.endpos and p.pid = i.pid order by p.startpos where path_table comprises a first column for the start position of the node (startpos), a second column for the end position of the node (endpos), a node type column (nodetype), a node value column (nodeval), a path identifier column (pid), and a document identifier column (docid), and a path_index_table comprises a path identifier column (pid), a path column (path), and a nodename column (nodename).
25. The method of claim 22 in which the SQL query identifier a fragment within the XML document.