Re: node() function

On Mon, Jun 23, 2014 at 5:01 PM, Abel Braaksma (Exselt)
abel@xxxxxxxxxx <xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> Mailing Lists Mail daktapaal@xxxxxxxxx
>> <mailto:xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> maandag 23 juni 2014 22:17
>>
>>
>> <xsl:template match="node()|@*">
>> <xsl:apply-templates/>
>> </xsl:template>
>>
> The expression "node()" is not a function, it is a node-test, similar to
> "foo" (tests for an element with the name 'foo') or "comment()" (tests for
> comment nodes). The template is matched when _any_ node is found. Since
> inside the body of the template you only have an xsl:apply-templates and the
> only template in existence is that very template, the stylesheet as a whole
> will not output anything: a so-called "delete-template".

To explain this:

All nodes are matched and processed by the same template above.
Whenever a text node is matched, the <xsl:apply-templates/>
instruction selects 0 (zero) nodes, because by definition a text-node
doesn't have any children.

This is where the processing cannot continue and when all text nodes
are matched, the transformation ends.

A shorter "delete-all" template is, of course this:

  <xsl:template match="node()"/>

or even shorter:

  <xsl:template match="/"/>




-- 
Cheers,
Dimitre Novatchev
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