Re: XPath and XSLT specs disagree about node()?

keshlam@us.ibm.com wrote:

> In the XPath spec, Section 2, there's an example:
>      * child::node() selects all the children of the context node,
>        whatever their node type
> My thought processes: "OK, child:: is selecting all the children, and
> node() is a wildcard meaning any-node-type. Compare this with the previous
> example, child::*, which selects only elements."
>
> That seems to be confirmed by later statements:
>      A node test node() is true for any node of any type whatsoever.
> and
>      A location step of . is short for self::node()
>
> BUT XSLT DISAGREES! In section 5.2, it says:
>      * node() matches any node other than an attribute node  and the root
> node

I don't see a disagreement. Section 5.2 is talking about examples of patterns
for template matching. Used as a match pattern, "node()" cannot match an
attribute, because it is an abbreviation for "child::node()", and an attribute
is never a child.

Regards,
 -- JeffC

******************************************************
Dr. Jeffrey L. Caruso <jcaruso@bitstream.com>
Bitstream, Inc.  215 First St.  Cambridge, MA 02142

Received on Thursday, 8 June 2000 10:47:40 UTC