System.Xml.Linq

The System.Xml.Linq namespace was added with .NET 3.5. This is known as LINQ to XML. Language Integrated Query (LINQ) is used to describe a query in the same language as the rest of a program. Therefore, interacting with a complex XML document does not require the use of XPath queries.

PowerShell can make use of System.Xml.Linq once the required assembly has been added:

Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Xml.Linq 

This can also be phrased as:

using assembly System.Xml.Linq

As a newer interface, System.Xml.Linq tends to be more consistent. The same syntax is used to create a document from scratch that is used to add elements and so on.

Opening documents

The XDocument class is used to load or parse a document. XML content may be cast to an XDocument in the same way that content is cast using the [Xml] type accelerator:

using assembly System.Xml.Linq 
[System.Xml.Linq.XDocument]$xDocument = @" 
<?xml version="1.0"?> 
<cars> 
<car type="Saloon"> 
<colour>Green<...