Re: XPath expression that yields the same result as x

Hello XSLT/XPath experts!

My XML document consists of a series of rows.

Each row is identified by the combination of two child elements: ARPT__IDENT

I want to group the rows. A group consists of those rows with the same

This XML document:

<Test>
     <row>
         <ARPT__IDENT>A</ARPT__IDENT>
         <TRM__IDENT>X</TRM__IDENT>
         <Data>Foo</Data>
     </row>
     <row>
         <ARPT__IDENT>A</ARPT__IDENT>
         <TRM__IDENT>X</TRM__IDENT>
         <Data>Bar</Data>
     </row>
     <row>
         <ARPT__IDENT>A</ARPT__IDENT>
         <TRM__IDENT>Y</TRM__IDENT>
         <Data>Blah</Data>
     </row>
     <row>
         <ARPT__IDENT>A</ARPT__IDENT>
         <TRM__IDENT>Y</TRM__IDENT>
         <Data>Plugh</Data>
     </row>
</Test>

is to be grouped this way:

<results>
     <group>
         <row>
             <ARPT__IDENT>A</ARPT__IDENT>
             <TRM__IDENT>X</TRM__IDENT>
             <Data>Foo</Data>
         </row>
         <row>
             <ARPT__IDENT>A</ARPT__IDENT>
             <TRM__IDENT>X</TRM__IDENT>
             <Data>Bar</Data>
         </row>
     </group>
     <group>
         <row>
             <ARPT__IDENT>A</ARPT__IDENT>
             <TRM__IDENT>Y</TRM__IDENT>
             <Data>Blah</Data>
         </row>
         <row>
             <ARPT__IDENT>A</ARPT__IDENT>
             <TRM__IDENT>Y</TRM__IDENT>
             <Data>Plugh</Data>
         </row>
     </group>
</results>

I can use xsl:for-each-group to perform the grouping:

<xsl:template match="Test">
     <xsl:variable name="rows" select="row" as="element(row)*"/>
     <results>
         <xsl:for-each-group select="$rows" group-by="concat(ARPT__IDENT,

             <group>
                 <xsl:sequence select="current-group()" />
             </group>
         </xsl:for-each-group>
     </results>
</xsl:template>

However, I want to create a variable -- $groups -- which holds the groups

<results>
     <xsl:for-each select="$groups">
         <group>
             <xsl:sequence select="." />
         </group>
     </xsl:for-each>
</results>

What XPath expression will yield the desired value for $groups?

<xsl:variable name="groups" select="???" />

Is there an XPath 2.0 expression that can be used?

What kind of sequence type would you expect that XPath expression to
return? You can't build sequences of sequences to somehow wrap the items
belonging to a group.

So unless you could move to XPath 3.1 with maps and/or arrays I don't
see an XPath type constructed with pure XPath to hold groups. And of
course even there it would be easier and smarter to use XSLT to create
the map or the nested sequence/array or array/sequence structure than to
rely on pure XPath I think.