[XSLT2] OB06 xsl:analyze-string

http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/WD-xslt20-20031112/#analyze-string

Hello,

the new functionality for processing simple text using regular expressions
is very useful. However, I wonder why it is restricted to one expression
per instruction.

A more powerful instruction could allow multiple regular expressions that
will be processed in lex-like manner [1]. That means the regex attribute
would be a property of xsl:matching-substring and not of xsl:analyze-string.
Replacing multiple substrings with proper markup then would require less
nested XSLT elements. Having only one xsl:matching-substring in this new 
semantics would behave exactly like the current version. 

Moreover, I believe this model reflects the template model of XSLT for
text processing: xsl:analyze-string is a container like xsl:stylesheet,
xsl:matching-substring is the counterpart for xsl:template.

I would be great if this enhancement of xsl:analyze-string could be
considered for the final XSLT specification.

Best regards,
Oliver Becker


[1] M. E. Lesk and E. Schmidt: "Lex - A Lexical Analyzer Generator"
    e.g. http://dinosaur.compilertools.net/lex/index.html


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|  ob|do        Dipl.Inf. Oliver Becker                             |
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Received on Friday, 30 January 2004 13:12:09 UTC