> I can't seem to find something that says one way or another 
> if parameter names can start with a number.
 
XPath spec:

[36]    VariableReference    ::=    '$' QName 


A Qname is defined in the XML Namespace spec, but it's the same
production as for XML element and attribute names, so you can't have $1
just as you can't have <1/>.



> So before the coding processes the rest of the text node, I should recurse 
> over the first part of the node.  Did I understand your suggestion 
> correctly?

yes, there's a general replace template at the FAQ site if I remember
correctly.

David

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