| count() Function | |
| Counts the number of nodes in a given node-set. | |
| Inputs | |
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A node-set. |
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| Output | |
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The number of nodes in the node-set. |
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| Defined in | |
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XPath section 4.1, Node Set Functions. |
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| Examples | |
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Here's the XML document we'll use to illustrate the count() function:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<test>
<p>This is a test XML document used by
several of our sample stylesheets.</p>
<question>
<text>When completed, the Eiffel Tower was the
tallest building in the world.</text>
<true>You're correct! The Eiffel Tower was the
world's tallest building until 1930.</true>
<false>No, the Eiffel Tower was the world's
tallest building for over 30 years.</false>
</question>
<question>
<text>New York's Empire State Building knocked
the Eiffel Tower from its pedestal.</text>
<true>No, that's not correct.</true>
<false>Correct! New York's Chrysler Building,
completed in 1930, became the world's tallest.</false>
</question>
</test>
Here's a stylesheet that illustrates the count() function:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:output method="text"/>
<xsl:variable name="newline">
<xsl:text>
</xsl:text>
</xsl:variable>
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:value-of select="$newline"/>
<xsl:text>Tests of the count() function:</xsl:text>
<xsl:value-of select="$newline"/>
<xsl:value-of select="$newline"/>
<xsl:text> count(/test)=</xsl:text>
<xsl:value-of select="count(/test)"/>
<xsl:value-of select="$newline"/>
<xsl:text> count(/true)=</xsl:text>
<xsl:value-of select="count(/true)"/>
<xsl:value-of select="$newline"/>
<xsl:text> count(//true)=</xsl:text>
<xsl:value-of select="count(//true)"/>
<xsl:value-of select="$newline"/>
<xsl:text> count(//test|//true|//text)=</xsl:text>
<xsl:value-of select="count(//test|//true|//text)"/>
<xsl:value-of select="$newline"/>
<xsl:variable name="numberOfQuestions" select="count(/test/question)"/>
<xsl:for-each select="/test/question">
<xsl:text> This is question number </xsl:text>
<xsl:value-of select="position()"/>
<xsl:text> of </xsl:text>
<xsl:value-of select="$numberOfQuestions"/>
<xsl:value-of select="$newline"/>
</xsl:for-each>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
Here are the results of our stylesheet: Tests of the count() function: count(/test)=1 count(/true)=0 count(//true)=2 count(//test|//true|//text)=5 This is question number 1 of 2 This is question number 2 of 2 The first four invocations of the count() function merely use XPath expressions to count something in the XML document. The last use of count() counts the number of <question> elements in our document and stores that value in a variable. Generating text like |
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