> It picks up the bullet points no problem. I am still having 
> difficulty selecting the previous node. So far I have thisL 
> <xsl:value-of select="preceding-sibling::Child[1]" /> But it 
> doesn't work.

The preceding sibling in your example was called P, not Child.

Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/

> 
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Michael Kay" <mike@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Friday, January 02, 2009 3:03 PM
> To: <xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: RE:  Testing for special characters
> 
> > Your test:
> >
> > <xsl:if test="P='. '">
> >
> > tests whether any child::P of the context node is equal to 
> ". ". This 
> > isn't very useful if you are positioned on the <Sect> 
> element, and it 
> > isn't at all useful if you are positioned on the "P" 
> element. The most 
> > likely explanation is that you are using this test "in the wrong 
> > place".
> >
> > The problem has nothing to do with special characters (At least I 
> > assume
> > so:
> > it's possible that the character in question is not really 
> "." at all, 
> > but some other character that has not made it through to the email).
> >
> > It's hard to propose a solution without seeing a wider selection of 
> > the possible inputs that need to be processed.
> >
> > Michael Kay
> > http://www.saxonica.com/
> >
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Graeme Kidd [mailto:coolkidd3@xxxxxxxxxxx]
> >> Sent: 02 January 2009 14:36
> >> To: xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >> Subject:  Testing for special characters
> >>
> >> Hi,
> >> I have used  Adobe Acrobat to export a PDF as XML and I am 
> wanting to 
> >> convert it.
> >> Sometime it displays an unordered list like this:
> >>
> >> <Sect>
> >>     <P>List: </P>
> >>     <P>Item 1; </P>
> >>     <P>. </P>
> >>     <P>Item 2; </P>
> >>     <P>. </P>
> >>     <P>Item 3; </P>
> >>     <P>. </P>
> >> </Sect>
> >>
> >> Which I am trying to convert to this:
> >>
> >> <Sect>
> >>     <P>List:</P>
> >>     <UL>
> >>         <LI>Item 1; </LI>
> >>         <LI>Item 2; </LI>
> >>         <LI>Item 3; </LI>
> >>     </UL>
> >> </Sect>
> >>
> >> The best I can think of is to check if there is a bullet 
> point then 
> >> use the previous <P> node.  At the moment I am having trouble just 
> >> checking if there is a bullet point as this doesn't seem to work:
> >> <xsl:if test="P='. '">
> >>
> >> I am thinking it might be because it is a special character.
> >> I have tried specifying the output as UTF-8 <xsl:output 
> method="xml" 
> >> indent="yes" encoding="UTF-8" />
> >>
> >> But that didn't seem to help, so does anyone else have any ideas?
> >> Thanks