>>For right or wrong, I am a novice, I have tried xsl:key, starts-with(),
>>context() . . . all to no avail.

David and Tom have given you the correct syntax to use starts-with(), but you
may also want to look at contains() which can be useful for string comparisons.

something like: <xsl:when test="contains(attrdef, 'Navy')">

Hope that helps.

-Peter 

 XSL-List info and archive:  http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list