recursion

Problem:  I have an XML file that has notes mixed up with comments.  I want to
move the notes from current location to Notes element.  There could be 0 to 10
notes.
Solution:  I will first copy notes found in
span[@class='x']
from current location to Notes.  With a second XSLT I will delete the unwanted
ones.

        <xsl:variable name="notes"
select="ancestor::Lexicon_Entry//LEXMeanings[1]//LEXSense[@LanguageCode='pt']
//span[@class='x']"/>

Recursive code XSLT 2.0:
    <xsl:template name="get_note">
        <xsl:param name="notes" select="."/>
        <xsl:param name="number" ><xsl:value-of select="."/></xsl:param>
        number /<xsl:value-of select="$number"/>/
        notes[number] /<xsl:value-of select="$notes[$number]"/>/
        notes /<xsl:value-of select="$notes"/>/
        <xsl:choose>
            <xsl:when test="exists($notes[$number])">
                <xsl:element name="note">
                <xsl:attribute name="Caller"><xsl:value-of
select="$number"/></xsl:attribute>
                <xsl:attribute name="LanguageCode">pt</xsl:attribute>
                <xsl:element name="Content">
                    <xsl:copy-of select="$notes[$number]"/>
                </xsl:element>
            </xsl:element>
                <xsl:call-template name="get_note">
                    <xsl:with-param name="notes" select="$notes"/>
                    <xsl:with-param name="number"><xsl:value-of
select="$number + 1"/></xsl:with-param>
                </xsl:call-template>
            </xsl:when>
            <xsl:otherwise>
            zzzzzzzz    <!-- end -->
            </xsl:otherwise>
        </xsl:choose>
    </xsl:template>

This works fine for 0 or 1 notes but when 2 or more are found it goes into an
endless loop.
Here is output with debugging code showing values
    <Note Caller="1" LanguageCode="en">
        <References/>
        <Content>There are no doubt certain subtle differences of meaning in
these terms, especially in their connotations, but it is not possible to
specify the difference on the basis of existing contexts.</Content>
      </Note>
    <Note Caller="1" LanguageCode="pt">
              <Content>
              <span class="x">2 Com certeza existem sutis diferenC'as de
significado entre esses termos, especialmente em termos conotativos, mas nC#o
C) possC-vel determinar isso com base nos contextos disponC-veis.
</span></Content></Note>


 <note Caller="2" LanguageCode="pt"><Content><span class="x">3 Em Mt 5.21,
<span lang="gk">N:O
a=7ON9O</span> se refere, provavelmente, a um tribunal
local. </span></Content></note>


        number /3/
        notes[number] /2 Com certeza existem sutis diferenC'as de significado
entre esses termos, especialmente em termos conotativos, mas nC#o C) possC-vel
determinar isso com base nos contextos disponC-veis.  3 Em Mt 5.21,
N:O
a=7ON9O se refere, provavelmente, a um tribunal local. /
        notes /2 Com certeza existem sutis diferenC'as de significado entre
esses termos, especialmente em termos conotativos, mas nC#o C) possC-vel
determinar isso com base nos contextos disponC-veis.  3 Em Mt 5.21,
N:O
a=7ON9O se refere, provavelmente, a um tribunal local. /

so when $number is 3, $notes[$number] is the same as $notes but $notes[3] is
the empty set.
I have verified that $number is actually an integer.  In this example there
are two notes. The first note starts with 2 Com ... and the second note starts
with 3 Em ...

This puts me in an endless loop as it always finds something in
$notes[$number]


Jim Albright
704-562-1529 unlimited cell
Wycliffe Bible Translators