[xquery-talk] Unusual XPath syntax question

[W.S. Hager]

I just love to do .[1][1][1][1][1][1][1]

Op 31 okt. 2016 19:19 schreef "Michael Kay" <mike at saxonica.com>:

> I agree with the other respondents: apart from giving an error if the
> context item is not a node, "./." is precisely equivalent to ".".
>
> (Not sure why an XSLT question is appearing on the XQuery list...)
>
> There's a certain fondness for verbosity in some parts of the XSLT user
> community. It's quite common to see "./price" where "price" would serve
> perfectly well, or "price/text()" for "price"; or xsl:element and
> xsl:attribute used where literal result elements would do the job, or (my
> favourite gripe)
>
> <xsl:variable name="x">
>   <xsl:value-of select="count(y)"/>
> </xsl:variable>
>
> where <xsl:variable name="x" select="count(y)"/> would serve the purpose
> better.
>
> And of course we've all seen things like <xsl:if test="contains(x, y) =
> true()">.
>
> I think some XSLT programmers must be paid by the yard; alternatively the
> language attracts those who love the sourd of their own keyboard. But "./."
> isn't an expansion I have seen before.
>
> Michael Kay
> Saxonica
>
> > On 31 Oct 2016, at 16:52, Schwartz, Christine <
> christine.schwartz at ptsem.edu> wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > I'm hoping someone on this list can clarify my conundrum.
> >
> > I'm working with a colleague on a writing project and one of his
> examples uses this XPath syntax "./." in the starts-with() function within
> an XSLT stylesheet. I don't know what "./." means. I would think that "."
> alone would be sufficient to refer to the context node.
> >
> > Here's the example:
> >
> > <xsl:for-each select="//dim:field">
> >    <xsl:if test="./@element='title'">
> >       <xsl:choose>
> >          <xsl:when test="starts-with(./.,'The ')">
> >                <datafield tag="245" ind1="1" ind2="4">
> >                       <subfield code="a"><xsl:value-of
> select="."/>.</subfield>
> >                </datafield>
> >          </xsl:when>
> >          <xsl:when test="starts-with(./.,'An ')">
> >                <datafield tag="245" ind1="1" ind2="3">
> >                       <subfield code="a"><xsl:value-of
> select="."/>.</subfield>
> >                </datafield>
> >          </xsl:when>
> >          <xsl:when test="starts-with(./.,'A ')">
> >                <datafield tag="245" ind1="1" ind2="2">
> >                       <subfield code="a"><xsl:value-of
> select="."/>.</subfield>
> >                </datafield>
> >          </xsl:when>
> >          <xsl:otherwise>
> >               <datafield tag="245" ind1="1" ind2="0">
> >                     <subfield code="a"><xsl:value-of
> select="."/>.</subfield>
> >               </datafield>
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Chris
> >
> > Christine Schwartz
> > Metadata Librarian and XML Database Administrator
> > Princeton Theological Seminary
> > Library
> > P.O. Box 821
> > Princeton, NJ 08542
> > christine.schwartz at ptsem.edu
> > (609) 497-7938
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > talk at x-query.com
> > http://x-query.com/mailman/listinfo/talk
>
>
>
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