You can write a recursive named template that extracts the last character of
the string, repeatedly until the last character is a non-digit.

Regards,

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

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Costello, Roger L. [mailto:costello@xxxxxxxxx] 
> Sent: 23 December 2009 14:02
> To: 'xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'
> Subject:  [XSLT 1.0] How to get the last number in a 
> string of numbers?
> 
> 
> Hi Folks,
> 
> I have a variable that contains a bunch of numbers:
> 
>    <xsl:variable name="numbers">
>       generate some numbers
>    </xsl:variable>
> 
> I want to obtain the last number in $numbers.
> 
> For example, this might be the value of $numbers:
> 
>    6 23 45 67
> 
> I want the last number:
> 
>    67
> 
> I want the last number fast, i.e., I want it in constant 
> time, not O(n), where n is the length of the list of numbers.
> 
> Plus, I don't want to use any extension functions/elements.
> 
> Finally, I want to use only XSLT 1.0
> 
> Can it be done? How? 
> 
> /Roger