The first template rule will be invoked for any element that has an empty string value. There are no such elements in your source document.

XSL:

<xsl:template match="*">
...
<xsl:template match="*[. != '']">

XML:

<root>
  <node>
    <item>data1</item>
    <item2>data2</item2>
  </node>
  <node2>
    <item>data3</item>
    <item2>data4</item2>
    <item3>
      <subItem>data5</subItem>
    </item3>
  </node2>
</root>

Mike Kay

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