> I want to translate the following... 
> 
> <orderlist> 
>     <order ordernum="1"> 
>         <customer> 
>             <firstname>John</firstname> 
>             <lastname>Doe</lastname> 
>             <phone>(510) 555-1212</phone> 
>         </customer 
>     </order> 
>     <order ordernum="2"> 
>         <customer> 
>             <firstname>Jane</firstname> 
>             <lastname>Smith</lastname> 
>             <phone>(916) 555-1212</phone> 
>         </customer 
>     </order> 
> </orderlist> 
> 
> into a tab-delimited ascii file for import into QuickBooks like this... 
> 
> firstname    lastname    phone 
> John         Doe         (510) 555-1212 
> Jane         Smith       (916) 555-1212

Here you go, with some comments to explain:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/XSL/Transform/1.0">
 <!-- if using an implementation of the current XSLT WD -->
 <xsl:output method="text"/>
 <!-- execute this template if the element name is 'orderlist' -->
 <xsl:template match="orderlist">
  <!-- emit column headers with tabs and a newline -->
  <xsl:text>firstname&#x9;lastname&#x9;phone&#xA;</xsl:text>
  <!-- process elements named 'customer' that are children of
       elements named 'order' that are children of the current
       node -->
  <xsl:for-each select="order/customer">
   <!-- select as a node-set the elements named 'firstname'
        that are children of the current node, and emit the
        concatenation of text nodes contained within the
        first node in that node-set -->
   <xsl:value-of select="firstname"/>
   <xsl:text>&#x9;</xsl:text>
   <xsl:value-of select="lastname"/>
   <xsl:text>&#x9;</xsl:text>
   <xsl:value-of select="phone"/>
   <xsl:text>&#xA;</xsl:text>
  </xsl:for-each>
 </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

  


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