The easiest way to do this is using substring. Create a string containing
more space characters than you will ever need (40?), and then use
substring($fortySpaces, 1, $n) to create a string of $n spaces.

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

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Adil Ladhani [mailto:dillio@xxxxxxxxx] 
> Sent: 19 March 2008 16:39
> To: xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject:  concatinating a varying number of whitespace characters
> 
> Hi XSL gurus,
> 
> I have a quick question about the concat() function. I need 
> to re-create a line from some XML, and the line should be of 
> the format:
> <Type><whitespace><Tail>
> 
> where <Type> and <Tail> are known, and the <whitespace> needs 
> to be detemined. <Tail> is always the same number of 
> characters (i.e. 17) and <Type> can vary in length. Since a 
> line is always 40 characters, I know that I need <Type> and 
> <whitespace> to add up to 23 chars.
> Furthermore,  I know I can determine the number of whitespace 
> chars by subtracting string-length(Type) from 23 (which is 40 
> - length(tail)), but how can I use this within a concat?
> 
> Sorry if this is unclear, I can clarify if necessary.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Adil