Name

xsl:template

Synopsis

<xsl:template 
  match    = "pattern"
  priority = "number"
  name     = "QualifiedName"
  mode     = "QualifiedName">
  <! --  (xsl:param*, template)  -- >
</xsl:template>

The xsl:template top-level element is the key to all of XSLT. Confusingly, the xsl:template element itself is not a template. Rather, it contains a template. The entire xsl:template element is called a template rule. The match attribute contains a pattern against which nodes are compared as they're processed. If the pattern matches a node, then the template (i.e., the contents of the template rule) is instantiated and inserted into the output tree.

Attributes

match, optional

A pattern against which nodes can be compared. This pattern is a location path using only the child, attribute, and descendant-or-self axes or a combination of several such location paths.

priority, optional

A number. If more than one template rule with the same import precedence matches a given node, the one with the highest priority is chosen. If this attribute is not present, then the template rule's priority is calculated in the following way:

• Template rules with match patterns composed of just an element or attribute name (e.g., person or @profession) have priority 0.

• Template rules with match patterns composed of just a processing-instruction('target') node test have priority 0.

• Template rules with match patterns in the form prefix :* have priority -0.25.

• Template rules with match patterns that just have a wildcard node test (*, @*, comment(), node( ), text( ), and processing-instruction( )) have priority -0.5. (This means that built-in template rules have priority -0.5. However, they are also imported before all other template rules, and thus never override any explicit template rule, regardless of priority.)

• Template rules with any other patterns (person[name='Feynman'], people/person/@profession, person/text( ), etc.) have priority 0.5.

It is an error if two or more template rules match a node and have the same priority. However, in this case, most XSLT processors choose the last template rule occurring in the stylesheet, rather than signaling the error.

name, optional

A name by which this template rule can be invoked from an xsl:call-template element, rather than by node matching.

mode, optional

If the xsl:template element has a mode, then this template rule is matched only when the calling instruction's mode attribute matches this mode attribute's value.

Contents

The template that should be instantiated when this element is matched or called by name.