If you omit the COLUMNS clause, the items returned by the 'XML_tab_row_pattern' query are returned as a column of XML data type.
SELECT X.* FROM (SELECT * FROM customer WHERE customerID = 1) AS C, XMLTable ( '/Customer/Order/Item' PASSING C.customerXML ) AS X ("ItemXML");
Here are partial results from the query. The ellipsis (...) is not part of the query results. It indicates that the query returns additional results that are truncated in the example.
ItemXML ----------------------------------------------------------------------- <Item ID="001"> <Quantity>10</Quantity> <PartNumber>F54709</ PartNumber> <Description>Motorola S10-HD Bluetooth Stereo Headphones</Description> <UnitPrice>29.50</UnitPrice> <Price <Item ID="101"> <Quantity>1</Quantity> <PartNumber>Z19743</ PartNumber> <Description>Motorola Milestone XT800 Cell Phone</ Description> <UnitPrice>139.99</UnitPrice> <Price>139.99< ...