1. A computer-implemented method comprising: causing execution of an index generation statement identifying a plurality of path expressions and a plurality of columns of a first table for indexing a collection of documents, wherein said plurality of path expressions identify less than all nodes in the collection of documents; wherein for each column of said plurality of columns, said index generation statement specifies an association between said each column and a respective path expression of said plurality of path expressions; wherein execution of said index generation statement causes generation of said first table, wherein the first table comprises a first set of entries; wherein for each column of the plurality of columns of said first table, each entry of the first set of entries contains a node value of a node identified by the respective path expression of said each column, said node value being from a document of said collection of documents; wherein the collection of documents is also indexed by a second table, wherein the second table comprises a second set of entries, each entry in the second set of entries: being associated with a given node of a document in the collection of documents, and including location data for locating content in the document, wherein the content is associated with the given node and path data that corresponds to a path to the given node in the document; intercepting, by a database system, a query for first information from a collection of documents, wherein the query for first information does not reference said first table and said second table; said database system rewriting the query for first information to generate a rewritten query that references said first table and said second table; wherein the query comprises one or more predicates; based on the rewritten query, said database system generating a first query plan using both the first table and the second table, wherein the first query plan, when executed by the database system, causes the database system to perform: identifying one or more first entries from the first table that contain a node value that satisfies the one or more predicates; extracting second information from the one or more first entries identified from the first table; extracting, using the second information, the first information from one or more second entries in the second table; wherein the first table and the second table are two different tables.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first table includes at least one column of the plurality of columns that stores node hierarchical order information projected by a row pattern.