Sometimes I wish that XQuery had hashes: Clunky XQuery 1.0 way: if ($n = "a") then "aardvark" else if ($n = "b") then "bandicoot" ... else if ($n = "z") then "zebra" else () Declunked way: define variable $animals as xqy:hash { "a" => "aardvark", "b" => "bandicoot", ... , "z" => "zebra" } $animals[$n] Best Tim Finney