1. An XML query rewrite method comprising: transforming, via an execution compiler included in an XML compilation processor executable via hardware or a combination of hardware and software, an XML query into an XML query plan, said transforming into said XML query plan comprising: identifying an XPath within said XML query using a query rewrite processor included in said XML compilation processor; and transforming, via query transformation on said XML query, said XPath into a pre-filter of said XML query using said query rewrite processor, wherein said query rewrite processor is adapted to perform said query transformation by transforming the expression: $i[e 1 ][e 2 ] into the expression $i[e 1 ][e 2 ]/e 2 , wherein e 1 is a filter and e 2 is a deterministic XQuery expression, and wherein subsequent to said transforming of the expression, applying said XML query to a sequence of XML items selected from a group consisting of: a sequence of XML items extracted from one or more extensible markup language (XML) documents, a sequence of XML items supplied by an Internet service, a sequence of HTML items extracted from one or more hypertext markup language (HTML) documents, and a sequence of HTML items supplied by an Internet service.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising executing said prefilter.