This code sample is adapted from Clifford B. Anderson and Joseph C. Wicentowski, XQuery for Humanists (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2020), 149. Download this code sample in its raw form. View the source on GitHub.

xquery version "3.1";

let $eastern-countries := ["China", "Russia", "Japan"]
let $western-countries := ["Mexico", "Canada", "United States"]
let $countries := [$eastern-countries, $western-countries]
return
    $countries