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Re: [xsl] except (was: Keys with duplicates should be simple)

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You've somehow got it into your head that the context for evaluation of the rh
operand depends on the lh operand. Like I said, you're thinking of it as a
predicate. That's not the case.

> descendant::* except self::heading

must be wrong, because the descendant axis never includes a node that's on the
self axis: this is like saying "all my descendants except myself".

Michael Kay
Saxonica


On 2 Feb 2014, at 21:50, Graydon <graydon@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> On Sun, Feb 02, 2014 at 09:04:28PM +0000, Michael Kay scripsit:
>> Perhaps you are reading "except" as "that are not", i.e. a negated
>> predicate rather than a set difference). In English this reading would
>> often work, as in "all vehicles that are not bicycles". But in English
>> grammar, what follows "except" is not a predicate that qualifies what
>> precedes it: you cannot say "all vehicles except blue". So I think the
>> XPath usage is aligned with English usage in this instance.
>
> I've found it useful to read "except" as "without"; I have a sequence,
> and what I get is that sequence without the members of this other
> sequence which I get to define.
>
> The place I usually get snarled up is remembering that the sequences
> are.
>
> * except heading
>
> is easy, that's "all the element children without any heading children",
> (child::*) except (child::heading)
>
> * except (heading, references)
>
> is easy, that's "all the element children without any members of this
> thing that's really a sequence which happens to be defined as heading or
> reference elements",
> (child::*) except (child::heading,child::references)
>
> descendant::* except heading
>
> is really "all the descendant elements without any child heading
> elements of the context node", and that's usually a source of
> intractable bugs.  I think it should be
>
> descendant::* except self::heading
>
> if I want all the descendant elements without any of the descendant
> elements who happen to be heading elements.
>
> But then in XSLT 3.0 (at least as currently available) I can say
>
> <xsl:template match="descendant::* except self::heading">
> <!-- something happens -->
> </xsl:template>
>
> and I get lost because I have no idea how the first sequence is defined.
>
> -- Graydon

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