XPath Functions

count(node-set)

Returns an integer number with the number of nodes in node-set.

id (Id)

Selects the node with the unique ID specified in Id.
Example: <xsl:value-of select="id('abc')/child::para"/> Selects the child node para of the node with the unique ID abc.

last ()

Returns an integer number with the position number of the last node in the current context.
Example: <xsl:if test="position() = last()"> checks, if the current node is the last node.

local-name ([node-set])

Returns a string with the local part of a node name with namespace declaration. The optional argument node-set specifies a node-set.

name ([node-set])

Returns a string with the name of the current node. The optional argument node-set specifies a node-set.

namespace-uri ([node-set])

Returns a string with the namespace URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) of the current element or attribute node. The optional argument node-set specifies a node-set.
Example: <xsl:value-of select="namespace-uri()"/> Returns the namespace URI (if existing) of the current node.

position ()

Returns an integer number with the position of the current node. The first node has the position number 1.

boolean (Arg)

Checks if argument Arg is true and returns a boolean value. All arguments that are a positive number, a non-empty string or a non-empty node-set, will be interpreted as true.

false ()

Returns false.

lang (Arg)

Returns true, if the language specified in argument Arg matches at least partially the language that has been specified in an xml:lang attribute.
Example: lang("en") returns true, if the current node contains the attribute xml:lang="en" or matches partially like xml:lang="en-US".

not (Arg)

Returns the negation of a boolean expression in argument Arg.
Example: <xsl:if test="not(element &gt; 1)"> returns true, if the content of element is less or equal to 1.

true ()

Returns true.

ceiling (Arg)

Rounds up a number within the argument Arg to the next higher integer number and returns this integer number (e. g. 0.001 to 1). If necessary, the argument will be converted to a number first.
Mathematically correct: Returns the smallest integer number that is not smaller than the argument Arg.

floor (Arg)

Rounds down a number within the Arg to the next lower integer number and returns this integer number (e. g. 0.999 to 0). If necessary, the argument will be converted to a number first.
Mathematically correct: Returns the biggest integer number that is not bigger than the argument Arg.

number ([Arg])

Converts the current node's content into a number and returns this number. Optionally, the argument Arg can specify a node-set, string, boolean value or another object to be converted. Boolean values true and false will be converted to 1 and 0.
Example: A string 3xy will be converted to 3; xy will be interpreted as NaN (Not a Number).

round (Arg)

Rounds a number within the argument Arg to the next positive or negative integer number and returns this number. Numbers lower than [value].5 will be rounded down, fractions greater or equal [value].5 will be rounded up to the next higher integer number.
Example: 0.49 will be rounded down to 0, -1.5 will be rounded up to -1.

sum (node-set)

Creates the total sum of all node contents of the argument node-set and returns it as number. If necessary, the node contents will be converted to numbers first. Values that cannot be interpreted as numbers will be handled as NaN (Not a Number).

concat (Arg1, 
Arg2 [, ...] )

Joins multiple strings that are handed over as arguments Arg1, Arg2 etc. and returns a string. If necessary, all arguments will be converted to a string first.

contains (Arg, Substring)

Checks if the argument Substring is contained within the argument Arg and returns a boolean value. If necessary, all arguments will be converted to a string first.
Example: <xsl:if test="contains('SoftProject', 'Project')"> returns the boolean value true.

starts-with (Arg, 
Substring)

Checks if the argument Arg starts with the argument Substring and returns a boolean value. If necessary, all arguments will be converted to a string first.
Example: <xsl:if test="starts-with('SoftProject', 'Soft')"> returns the boolean value true.

normalize-space ([Arg])

Removes leading and trailing whitespaces of the current node content, replaces multiple whitespaces, tabulators and line breaks with a single whitespace, and returns the node content as string. Optionally, an argument Arg can be used, which will be converted to a string, if required.

string ([Arg])

Converts the current node content into a string and returns this string. Optionally, the argument Arg may contain boolean values that will be converted to true or false. Decimal numbers will be simplified, if possible. Use the XSLT function formatnumbers() for all further number-to-string conversions.

Example: <xsl:value-of select="string(4.00)"/> returns the string 4.

Check if the value is a number: <xsl:if test="string(number(@value))!='NaN'">.

string-length ([Arg])

Returns an integer number with the number of characters of the current node content. If necessary, all arguments will be converted to a string first. Optionally, an argument Arg can be used, which will be converted to a string, if required.

substring (Arg, Start, [length])

Extracts a substring of the argument Arg starting from the character Start, and returns a string. The character counting starts with 1. Optionally, the argument Length can be used, which specifies the maximum length of the substring.

substring-before (Arg, Substring)

Checks if a string in argument Arg contains a substring within the argument Substring and returns a string with all characters that precede the substring. If Substring is not contained in Arg, an empty string will be returned.
Example: <xsl:value-of select="substring-before('2008/04/01', '/')"/> returns 2008.

substring-after (Arg, Substring)

Checks if a string in argument Arg contains a substring within the argument Substring and returns a string with all characters that follow the substring. If Substring is not contained in Arg, an empty string will be returned.
Example: <xsl:value-of select="substring-after('2008/04/01', '20')"/> returns 08/04/01.

translate (Arg, Substring1,
Substring2)

Searches in argument Arg for a string within the argument Substring1, replaces this with the string within argument Substring2, and returns the modified string. If necessary, the argument Arg will be converted to a string first. Each matching character of Substring1 will be replaced with the corresponding character from Substring2.
Example: <xsl:value-of select="translate('hello world', 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz', 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ')" /> returns HELLO WORLD.