the result shud be..
<element-name att = "att-name1">
    <child>
         <name>childname1</name>
         <age>childage1</age>
    </child>
    <child>
         <name>childname2</name>
         <age>childage2</age>
     </child>
    <child>
          <name>childname1</name>
         <age>childage1</age>
    </child>
</element-name>

<element-name second-att = "second-att-name1">
    <child>
         <name>childname1</name>
         <age>childage1</age>
    </child>
    <child>
         <name>childname2</name>
         <age>childage2</age>
     </child>
    <child>
          <name>childname1</name>
         <age>childage1</age>
    </child>
</element-name>

From: Jeni Tennison <jeni@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: "Laura Jenkins" <xsl_list@xxxxxxxxxxx>
CC: xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re:  grouping probs
Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 10:40:46 +0100

Hi Laura,

> Essentially it should eleminate the duplicates out of "any" element
> it comes across.i cant give conditions based on a fixed element. so
> if the xsl comes across elements with same "id" and "text()".. then
> it should eleminate the duplicating element "where ever found in the
> document"

Set up a key that matches all elements that doesn't hold any child
elements and assigns them a value based on their id (presumably an id
attribute? Or did you mean the name of the element?) and string value:

<xsl:key name="duplicates" match="*[not(*)]"
         use="concat(@id, '+', string())" />

Use an identity template to do a recursive copy of the whole document:

<xsl:template match="node() | @*">
  <xsl:copy>
    <xsl:apply-templates select="@* | node()" />
  </xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>

and override this template for elements that don't have element
children:

<xsl:template match="*[not(*)]">
  ...
</xsl:template>

You only want to copy these elements if they are the first element in
the document with that id and value. Use the classic Muenchian test to
see whether they're the first element in the document with that id and
string value:

<xsl:template match="*[not(*)]">
  <xsl:if test="generate-id() =
                generate-id(key('duplicates',
                                concat(@id, '+', string()))[1])">
    <xsl:copy>
      <xsl:apply-templates select="@* | node()" />
    </xsl:copy>
  </xsl:if>
</xsl:template>

And there you go.

Cheers,

Jeni

---
Jeni Tennison
http://www.jenitennison.com/

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