> Is there a  way of doing this without already knowing the string in the
> element?

> i.e.
<xsl:value of select="count(//field[@column='3' and . = field[@column='3'
/>

yes but the current node inside the [] is why the . works, so the field
would refer to a field child of a field, probably you want to know the
value of a later field something like

.=following::field[@column..

on the other hand hand you might want to use keys for this ('cause it's
simpler and faster)

<xs:key name="x" match="field[@column=3]" use="."/>

so now <xsl:value of select="count(key('x','A'))"/>
tells you how many A's there are.

<xsl:for-each select="//field[@column=3][count(.|key('x',.)[1])=1]">
There are <xsl:value of select="count(key('x',.))"/> fields in column3
  with value <xsl:value-of select="."/>
</xsl:for-each>

will loop through all the distinct examples.

David

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