> > <xsl:variable name="next" select="following-sibling::text()[1]"/>
> > ... select="following-sibling::processing-instruction()[. &lt;&lt; 
> > $next]"/>
> 
> Sadly, no. I wouldn't be in this position were they siblings.
> 

In that case just delete "-sibling" both times.

Regards,

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