XML in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

Name

xsl:template

Synopsis

<xsl:template 
  match    = "pattern"
  priority = "number"
  name     = "QualifiedName"
  mode     = "QualifiedName">
  <! --  (xsl:param*, template)  -- >
</xsl:template>

The xsl:template top-level element is the key to all of XSLT. Confusingly, the xsl:template element itself is not a template. Rather, it contains a template. The entire xsl:template element is called a template rule. The match attribute contains a pattern against which nodes are compared as they’re processed. If the pattern matches a node, then the template (i.e., the contents of the template rule) is instantiated and inserted into the output tree.

Attributes

match, optional

A pattern against which nodes can be compared. This pattern is a location path using only the child, attribute, and descendant-or-self axes or a combination of several such location paths.

priority, optional

A number. If more than one template rule with the same import precedence matches a given node, the one with the highest priority is chosen. If this attribute is not present, then the template rule’s priority is calculated in the following way:

• Template rules with match patterns composed of just an element or attribute name (e.g., person or @profession) have priority 0.

• Template rules with match patterns composed of just a processing-instruction('target') node test have priority 0.

• Template rules with match patterns in the form prefix :* have priority -0.25.

• Template rules with match patterns that just have a wildcard node test (*, @*, comment() ...