I think you need to start by explaining to us, in English, what it is about
this semicolon that makes it undesirable: that is, under what circumstances
should a semicolon (or other obnoxious character) be removed?

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

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Richard Corfield [mailto:richard.corfield@xxxxxxx] 
> Sent: 28 April 2008 10:26
> To: xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject:  Using xsl:variable and replace() to remove 
> specific characters.
> 
> Hi
> 
> I've been using xslt on and off for a few years, but not for 
> long enough to make me feel like I've moved on from 'novice' 
> status yet. The problem I'm grappling with at the moment is 
> really making feel like I don't understand even the fundamentals yet!
> 
> What I'm trying to do is process some xml of which this is a fragment:
> 
> <aff id="aj266199af2">
>   <label>2</label>National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 
> Chile<xref ref-type="fn" 
> rid="aj266199afn4"><sup>9</sup></xref>; <ext-link 
> ext-link-type="email" id="aj266199em4">email address 
> here</ext-link> </aff>
> 
> <!-- snip -->
> <fn id="aj266199afn4">
>   <label>9</label>
>   <p>The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility 
> of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative 
> agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
>   </p>
> </fn>
> 
> 
> The problem is the trailing semi-colon between the <xref> & 
> <ext-link> elements.
> 
> Previously to remove characters like this I have seen this 
> sort of thing successfully employed elsewhere:
> 
> <xsl:variable name="searchStr" select="'[:;,\.\s]+$'"/> 
> <xsl:variable name="replaceStr" select="''"/>
> 
> <!-- snip -->
> 
> <xsl:variable name="affilStr">
>         <xsl:apply-templates 
> select="key('key_allElementsById' , .)"/> </xsl:variable> 
> <affil id="{.}">
>         <xsl:value-of select="replace($affilStr , $searchStr 
> , $replaceStr)"
> />
> 
> 
> However the above xml snippet is dealt with by this:
> 
> <xsl:for-each select="//aff">
>         <affil id="{label}">
>            <xsl:apply-templates />
>         </affil>
>   </xsl:for-each>
> 
> ... and this is the output:
> 
> <affil id="2">National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 
> Chile<footnote pos="affil" id="9">The National Radio 
> Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science 
> Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated 
> Universities, Inc.</footnote>; </affil>
> 
> However if I try to employ the same method to remove the semi-colon:
> 
> <xsl:variable name="searchStr" select="';\s*$'"/> 
> <xsl:variable name="replaceStr" select="''"/>
> 
>    <xsl:variable name="nameStr">
>      <xsl:apply-templates/>
>    </xsl:variable>
>    <affil id="{label}">
>            <xsl:value-of select="$nameStr"/>
>         </affil>
> 
> The result is as follows:
> 
>       <affil id="2">National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 
> ChileThe National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility 
> of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative 
> agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.</affil>
> 
> We've lost the semi-colon (excellent!) but also structure of 
> the xml, the <footnote> tags. :-(
> 
> Would anyone be able to comment on my approach and point out 
> what would be a more sensible approach?
> 
> I'm using saxon to process the xml with xslt v2.
> 
> Many thanks
> 
> Richard
> 
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