Hi Dave,

>
> it needs to some how remember what it has already grouped (sorry for the
> procedural thinking here.)
>
> This isn't too much of a problem in this case because I can remove those
extra
> sec tags with a second script based on depth.

How do you apply the sec template in the first occurrence?

<xsl:template match="ch">
..
<xsl:apply-templates select="sec"/>  <- This will select too much

You need to find out which elements are the top level ones, for
example this way (where string-length(@id) is known):
<xsl:apply-templates select="sec[string-length(@id)=8]"/>
..

This is an example. You might want to use modes, as another approach.

Regards,
Ragulf Pickaxe :-)