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At 10:42 AM 4/1/2003, Stuart wrote:
The XPath "/" does not return the document element (the element in which all others are contained), but the root node, which is an abstract higher-level container which contains everything (including any comments, etc., which do not fall within the document element). It has no name, it just is (nominalist metaphysics notwithstanding). Nominalism has no problem: it merely asks how you define "name". Is a "name" something you call something, or is it a string returned by the name() function? (Ah, Romeo!) The fact that at the start of an XPath "/" means the root node, whereas anywhere else it is the step delimiter can be confusing. As can the fact that in XPath, "name()" is a function (which takes an optional node-set as an argument), but "text()", "comment()" and "node()" are node tests. Cheers, Wendell ====================================================================== Wendell Piez mailto:wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Mulberry Technologies, Inc. http://www.mulberrytech.com 17 West Jefferson Street Direct Phone: 301/315-9635 Suite 207 Phone: 301/315-9631 Rockville, MD 20850 Fax: 301/315-8285 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Mulberry Technologies: A Consultancy Specializing in SGML and XML ====================================================================== XSL-List info and archive: http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list
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