Re: ancestor axis order

> and it works.

don't sound so surprised:-)


> But I for one would appreciate a JT class explanation.


ancestor::*
   is all the ancestor element nodes, and within this step (only)
   they will be ordered in reverse document order. as ancestor is a
   reverse axis. "this step" means up to the end of the expression or to
   the next / , predicates in [] are part of the step.

  [self::define or self::choice]
   this is a boolean valued predicate so after evaluating this, the
   current node list just consists of nodes for which the predicate is
   true, ie define or choice elements.

  [1]
  This is a numeric valued predicate so is [positon()=1] and as we are
  in a reverse axis step this is true for just the innermost element
  in the current node list  ie the innermost define or choice

  [self::choice]
  This is a node-set predicate so is true just if the node set is
  non-empty: it will be non-empty if the single node which got past the
  [1] is a choice and false otherwise, so it is true just if the
  innermost define-or-choice element is a choice.

Jeni


-- 
The LaTeX Companion
  http://www.awprofessional.com/bookstore/product.asp?isbn=0201362996
  http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0201362996/202-7257897-0619804


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