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RE: XPath expression to return an attribute's value

• From: "Michael Kay" <mike@s...>
• To: "'Rachel D. Basse'" <honestrosewater@c...>,<xml-dev@l...>
• Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2007 00:40:04 -0000

string(Root/@Attribute) returns the string-value

data(Root/@Attribute) returns the typed value

In most contexts where you want the typed value, the data() function is
applied automatically (a process called atomization) so you rarely see it
written explicitly. For example

Root/@Attribute = 'Value'

would return true, since the "=" operator automatically atomizes its
operands.

You don't say what is the type of the attribute - in your example it looks
like a string, in which case the string value and the typed value are
effectively the same thing.

Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/ 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rachel D. Basse [mailto:honestrosewater@c...] 
> Sent: 04 March 2007 09:44
> To: xml-dev@l...
> Subject:  XPath expression to return an attribute's value
> 
> Greetings. :^)
> 
> This question came up while using XSLT 2.0 and XPath 2.0. I'd 
> like to root out any related, more general misunderstandings 
> if possible.
> 
> Given
> 
>  <Root Attribute="Value"/>
> 
> I want to make an XPath path expression evaluate to the 
> string "Value". So I want the XDM typed-value of the 
> Attribute attribute, yes? Does XPath have a way to refer to 
> the typed-valued of an attribute?
> 
> My first instinct was to refer to the child text node of 
> Attribute, using "Attribute/text()", but that won't work 
> since attributes have no children.
> 
> As I understand things, adding any predicate to an 
> "Attribute" path expression won't work since the expression 
> would still return an attribute node or nothing, and I want a 
> string, neither an attribute node nor nothing.
> 
> I can apparently get what I want by casting the attribute 
> node as a string, but I am wondering if there is another, 
> more direct way.
> 
> Thanks for reading,
> Rachel Basse
> 
> P.S. I am aware that I can also use xsl:value-of, but I 
> specifically want an XPath expression to evaluate to an 
> attribute's value.
> 
> 
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  • XPath expression to return an attribute's value
    • From: "Rachel D. Basse" <honestrosewater@c...>