Priority is only used to decide which template to apply when you have two
template rules that match the same node. "/" matches root nodes (called
document nodes in XSLT 2.0), while "*" matches element nodes, so there is
never any conflict between these two rules, and therefore no need to
consider their relative priority.

Michael Kay 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: simon_handley@xxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:simon_handley@xxxxxxxxxxx] 
> Sent: 15 September 2004 22:56
> To: xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject:  apply-templates and priorities
> 
> I'm confused about how the priorities of templates are 
> computed.  Using 
> saxon 8.0, this stylesheet:
> 
> <xsl:stylesheet 
> xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
>     <xsl:template match="*" priority="1">
>         <xsl:message>in first</xsl:message>
>     </xsl:template>
> 
>     <xsl:template match="/" priority="10">
>         <xsl:message>in second</xsl:message>
>     </xsl:template>
> </xsl:stylesheet>
> 
> and an arbitrary source doc produces the message "in second" 
> (as expected).
> 
> Now if I switch around the priorities:
> 
> <xsl:stylesheet 
> xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
>     <xsl:template match="*" priority="10">
>         <xsl:message>in first</xsl:message>
>     </xsl:template>
> 
>     <xsl:template match="/" priority="1">
>         <xsl:message>in second</xsl:message>
>     </xsl:template>
> </xsl:stylesheet>
> 
> Then I still get "in second" (NOT as expected).  Note that if the 
> patterns are the same then this behaviour goes away (the latter 
> case produces "in first").  Also, I see the same behaviour in earlier
> versions of saxon.
> 
> My understanding of these things is that the default 
> priorities for the 
> two templates are different (as per section 5.5 of the 1.0 spec), but 
> that the explicit priority just overrides the default priorities.  Is 
> something else going on, or have I missed something really simple?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Simon
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------
>   Simon Handley
>   Agilent Technologies
>   5301 Stevens Creek Boulevard, MS WH
>   Santa Clara, California 95051-7295
>   simon_handley@xxxxxxxxxxx
>   408-553-7122 (w) 408-553-7269 (fax)
> 
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