Filtering Document Exports
- Last Updated: April 14, 2026
- 1 minute read
- MarkLogic Server
- Version 12.0
- Documentation
This section covers options available for filtering what is exported by the mlcp export command when -output_type is document.
By default, mlcp exports all documents in the database. That is, mlcp exports the equivalent of fn:collection(). The following options allow you to filter what is exported. These options are mutually exclusive.
-
-directory_filter- export only the documents in the listed database directories. You cannot use this option with-collection_filteror-document-selector. -
-collection_filter- export only the documents in the listed collections. You cannot use this option with-directory_filteror-document_selector. -
-document_selector- export only documents selected by the specified XPath expression. You cannot use this option with-directory_filteror-collection_filter. Use-path_namespaceto define namespace prefixes. -
-query_filter- export only documents matched by the specified cts query. You can use this option alone or in combination with a directory, collection or document selector filter. You can only use this filter with theexportandcopycommands. Results may not be accurate; for details, see Understanding When Filters Are Accurate.
Note:
When filtering with a document selector, the XPath filtering expression should select fragment roots only. An XPath expression that selects nodes below the root is very inefficient.
When using -document_selector to filter by XPath expression, you can define namespace prefixes using the -path_namespace option. For example:
-path_namespace 'ex1,http://marklogic.com/example,ex2,http://my/ex2'
-document_selector '/ex1:elem[ex2:attr > 10]'