Re: Inserting nodes

Since this is so badly formatted on the W3C list, here attached is the HTML 
version


Steven

On Wednesday 25 February 2026 14:05:38 (+01:00), Steven Pemberton wrote:


The xpath data model 3.1 says 
(https://www.w3.org/TR/xpath-datamodel-31/#Node)


 "There are seven kinds of Nodes in the data model: document, element, 
attribute, text, namespace, processing instruction, and comment."


The possible sub-branches of each of these are:


Document:
 
Children: Element, Processing Instruction, Comment, Text. 
Element:
 
Children: Element, Processing Instruction, Comment, Text
 Attributes
 Namespaces
Attribute: -
Text: -
Processing instruction:  -
Comment: -
Namespace:  -


The text for <insert/> says
 "If [...] there is a node type conflict between the copied node and the 
target location (for example, an attribute cannot be inserted as a sibling 
of an element), the insertion for that copied node is ignored."


So I tried to draw up a table of what happens with each type of node being 
inserted to a location of each type of node. There is an 8th type of node: 
The root element is special because it cannot have sibling elements.


Rows: destination node, Columns: Source node.
X: Not allowed
?: Needs discussion
Sibling: The node is inserted as a sibling
Insert/replace: Either insert the node, or replace the node of the same 
name
Concat: adjacent text nodes must be concatenated


I think it would be good to discuss every entry in this table to make sure 
we agree that that is what happens.



 Document Element Attribute Text NS PI Comment
Document X Replaces root element X X? X Insert? Insert?
Root element X Replaces root element Insert/replace attribute Sibling? 
Insert/replace Insert Insert
Element X Sibling unless parent is doc Insert/replace attribute Sibling 
Insert/replace Insert Insert
Attribute X X Insert/replace attribute X? X X X
Text X Sibling unless parent is doc X Concat X Sibling Sibling
NS X X X X Insert/replace X X
PI X Sibling unless parent is doc X Sibling X Sibling Sibling
Comment X Sibling unless parent is doc X Sibling X Sibling Sibling