> I don't think "except" works because that would be everything before and
> after but not current.

You're right it doesn't work...

The only non-sibling-recursion technique I can think of now is a no-op
template along the lines of:

<xsl:template match="*[. >> $target]"/>

> Would "up to" cover off your concerns for procedural connotations?

hmm now that I've understood it a little better, maybe 'remove', eg
select="//* remove *[. >> $target]"



-- 
Andrew Welch
http://andrewjwelch.com