Re: analyze-string gotcha/reminder

On Tue, Nov 20, 2012 at 1:35 PM, John Lumley <John.Lumley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

A useful technique I've found with a multi-case xsl:analyze-string is to use
a set of variables for each of the regex alternatives and then join them for
a composite alternative expression, viz:

<xsl:variable name="r1">\d+</xsl:variable>
<xsl:variable name="r2">[A-Za-z]+</xsl:variable>
....
<xsl:analyse-string select="." regex="{string-join(($r1,$r2),'|')}">
   <xsl:matching-substring>
     <xsl:choose>
       <xsl:when test="matches(.,$r1)">It's a number</xsl:when>
       <xsl:when test="matches(.,$r2)">A word this time....</xsl:when>
.......
This has three advantages:
i) you only define each case once,
ii) dealing with entities such as quotes is much easier and
iii) it's much clearer what the alternatives are.

The only minor niggle is with embedded bracketed substructures '(...)' where
the numbering to access them, regex-group(n), depends upon the position in
the composite sequence.

hmmm but if the Gods had meant us to do this would they have invented flag="x"?

--
John Lumley MA PhD CEng FIEE
john@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx