Re: xsl:copy-of

> <xsl:variable name="first" select="John"/>

That declares $first to be the node set matching the pattern John
and you haven't got any elements <John> so this is the empty node
set and this coerces to the empty string.

<xsl:variable name="first" select="'John'"/>
                                   ^    ^
makes $first the string John.

David


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