<xsl:variable name="temp" select="string-join((1 to $N)!' ')"/>

seems to me the cleanest way of doing it.

Michael Kay
Saxonica

> On 24 Feb 2023, at 14:44, Roger L Costello costello@xxxxxxxxx
<xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Hi Folks,
>
> $N contains an integer.
>
> $blanks is a string variable. The string is to consist of $N blanks (space
characters).
>
> Below is one way to populate $blanks. It's an awful solution. Is there a
beautiful (simple) solution?
>
> <xsl:variable name="tmp" as="xs:string+">
>    <xsl:sequence select="''" />
>    <xsl:sequence select="for $i in 1 to $N return (' ')"/>
> </xsl:variable>
>
> <xsl:variable name="blanks" as="xs:string">
>    <xsl:value-of select="$tmp" separator=""/>
> </xsl:variable>