XSLT Reference

The XSLT elements from the W3C Recommendation (XSLT Version 1.0).

XSLT Elements

The links in the "Element" column point to attributes and more useful information about each specific element.

NN: indicates the earliest version of Netscape that supports the tag
IE: indicates the earliest version of Internet Explorer that supports the tag

Note: Elements supported in IE 5.x may have NON-standard behavior, because IE 5.x was released before XSLT became an official W3C Recommendation. However, IE 6.x has full XML / XSLT 1.0 / XPath 1.0 support!

Element	Description	IE	NN
apply-imports	Applies a template rule from an imported style sheet	6.0
apply-templates	Applies a template rule to the current element or to the current element's child nodes	5.0	6.0
attribute	Adds an attribute	5.0	6.0
attribute-set	Defines a named set of attributes	6.0	6.0
call-template	Calls a named template	6.0	6.0
choose	Used in conjunction with <when> and <otherwise> to express multiple conditional tests	5.0	6.0
comment	Creates a comment node in the result tree	5.0	6.0
copy	Creates a copy of the current node (without child nodes and attributes)	5.0	6.0
copy-of	Creates a copy of the current node (with child nodes and attributes)	6.0	6.0
decimal-format	Defines the characters and symbols to be used when converting numbers into strings, with the format-number() function	6.0
element	Creates an element node in the output document	5.0	6.0
fallback	Specifies an alternate code to run if the processor does not support an XSLT element	6.0
for-each	Loops through each node in a specified node set	5.0	6.0
if	Contains a template that will be applied only if a specified condition is true	5.0	6.0
import	Imports the contents of one style sheet into another. Note: An imported style sheet has lower precedence than the importing style sheet	6.0	6.0
include	Includes the contents of one style sheet into another. Note: An included style sheet has the same precedence as the including style sheet	6.0	6.0
key	Declares a named key that can be used in the style sheet with the key() function	6.0	6.0
message	Writes a message to the output (used to report errors)	6.0	6.0
namespace-alias	Replaces a namespace in the style sheet to a different namespace in the output	6.0
number	Determines the integer position of the current node and formats a number	6.0	6.0
otherwise	Specifies a default action for the <choose> element	5.0	6.0
output	Defines the format of the output document	6.0	6.0
param	Declares a local or global parameter	6.0	6.0
preserve-space	Defines the elements for which white space should be preserved	6.0	6.0
processing-instruction	Writes a processing instruction to the output	5.0	6.0
sort	Sorts the output	6.0	6.0
strip-space	Defines the elements for which white space should be removed	6.0	6.0
stylesheet	Defines the root element of a style sheet	5.0	6.0
template	Rules to apply when a specified node is matched	5.0	6.0
text	Writes literal text to the output	5.0	6.0
transform	Defines the root element of a style sheet	6.0	6.0
value-of	Extracts the value of a selected node	5.0	6.0
variable	Declares a local or global variable	6.0	6.0
when	Specifies an action for the <choose> element	5.0	6.0
with-param	Defines the value of a parameter to be passed into a template	6.0	6.

XQuery 1.0, XPath 2.0, and XSLT 2.0 share the same functions library.

XSLT Functions

XSLT includes over 100 built-in functions. There are functions for string values, numeric values, date and time comparison, node and QName manipulation, sequence manipulation, Boolean values, and more.

The URI of the XSLT function namespace is: http://www.w3.org/2005/02/xpath-functions
The default prefix for the function namespace is fn:.

Tip: Functions are often called with the fn: prefix, such as fn:string(). However, since fn: is the default prefix of the namespace, the function names do not need to be prefixed when called.

The reference of all the built-in XSLT 2.0 functions is located in our XPath tutorial.

In addition, there are the following built-in XSLT functions:

Name	Description
current()	Returns the current node
document()	Used to access the nodes in an external XML document
element-available()	Tests whether the element specified is supported by the XSLT processor
format-number()	Converts a number into a string
function-available()	Tests whether the function specified is supported by the XSLT processor
generate-id()	Returns a string value that uniquely identifies a specified node
key()	Returns a node-set using the index specified by an <xsl:key> element
system-property()	Returns the value of the system properties
unparsed-entity-uri()	Returns the URI of an unparsed entity