xsl:variable with expr

Hi  , I am not able to run the following code it gives an error saying

 XSLT Error (javax.xml.transform.TransformerConfigurationException): "expr"
xsl:variable element!


Can anu tell me the reason.
sanghamitra




<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
xmlns:xalan="http://xml.apache.org/xslt"
>

<xsl:template match="/">
    <xsl:variable name="DebugOpts" expr="abc123"/>
    <xsl:call-template name="childTemplate">
        <xsl:with-param name="DebugOpts" select="$DebugOpts"/>
    </xsl:call-template>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template name="childTemplate">
    <xsl:param="DebugOpts" select="."/>
    <xsl:text>The value of $DebugOpts is: </xsl:text>
    <xsl:value-of select="$DebugOpts"/>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>



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