XSL

Please refer to the errata for this document, which may include some normative corrections. This specification defines the syntax and semantics of XSLT 2.0, a language for transforming XML documents into other XML documents. This document contains hyperlinks to specific sections or definitions within other documents in this family of specifications. These links are indicated visually by a superscript identifying the target specification: for example XP for XPath, DM for the XDM data model, FO for Functions and Operators. This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. Other documents may supersede this document. A list of current W3C publications and the latest revision of this technical report can be found in the W3C technical reports index at The Proposed Edited Recommendation of XSLT 2.0 was published on 21 April 2009. This second edition is not a new version of this specification; its purpose is to clarify a number of issues that have become apparent since the first edition was published. All of these clarifications (excepting trivial editorial fixes) have been published in a separate errata document. This Recommendation has been developed by the W3C XSL Working Group , and republished by the W3C Team, following the Amended Recommendation process. Please report errors in and submit comments on this document using GitHub . You may send your comments to the W3C XSLT/XPath/XQuery public comments mailing list, [email protected] . It will be very helpful if you include the string "[XSLT 2.0]" in the subject line of your report, whether made in GitHub or in email. Each GitHub issue and email message should contain only one error report. Archives of the comments and responses are available at . The Recommendation from which this document is derived was produced by a group operating under the W3C Patent Policy . W3C maintains a public list of any patent disclosures made in connection with the deliverables of the group; that page also includes instructions for disclosing a patent. An individual who has actual knowledge of a patent which the individual believes contains Essential Claim(s) must disclose the information in accordance with section 6 of the W3C Patent Policy . This Amended Recommendation was produced by incorporating errata after that group closed. This specification defines the syntax and semantics of the XSLT 2.0 language. The term stylesheet reflects the fact that one of the important roles of XSLT is to add styling information to an XML source document, by transforming it into a document consisting of XSL formatting objects (see [[Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL)]]( ), or into another presentation-oriented format such as HTML, XHTML, or SVG. However, XSLT is used for a wide range of transformation tasks, not exclusively for formatting and presentation applications. Definition: A [stylesheet may consist of several stylesheet modules , contained in different XML documents. For a given transformation, one of these functions as the principal stylesheet module . The complete stylesheet is assembled by finding the stylesheet modules referenced directly or indirectly from the principal stylesheet module using xsl:include and xsl:import elements: see 3.10.2 Stylesheet Inclusion and 3.10.3 Stylesheet Import .] [Definition: The software responsible for transforming source trees into result trees using an XSLT stylesheet is referred to as the processor . This is sometimes expanded to XSLT processor to avoid any confusion with other processors, for example an XML processor.] Definition: The term temporary tree means any tree that is neither a [source tree nor a final result tree .] Temporary trees are used to hold intermediate results during the execution of the transformation. In this specification the phrases must, must not, should, should not, may, required, and recommended are to be interpreted as described in [[RFC2119]]( . Where the phrase should, should not, or