How do I output an ampersand?

This is probably staring me in the face but...

I've got an XSLT stylesheet which I'm running through MSXML2 (and now
MSXML3) converting from XML to HTML. Part of it requires that I piece
together a URL from various elements and attributes. I need to be able to
output an ampersand *on its own* and *not* as &.

How should I do this? I've tried various different methods, but xslt
resolutely refuses to send anything other than & even when I try
<xsl:text disable-output-escaping="yes">&#38;</xsl:text>.

I've tried having the output format as html, which doesn't affect this at
all.

Is it just a quirk of the MS component (which is the only xslt processor I
have) or is this a general problem?

I should say that IE5 is quite happy to handle URLs of the form
abc.cgi?p=1&amp;q=2 but my worry is that other browsers won't be as
forgiving as IE.

Jim Lynn.
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
http://www.h2g2.com


 XSL-List info and archive:  http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list