XSLT, 2nd Edition

Name

[2.0] min()

Returns the smallest value in a given sequence.

Syntax

xs:anyAtomicType min(xs:anyAtomicType*)
xs:anyAtomicType min(xs:anyAtomicType*, $collation as xs:string)

Input

A sequence of values. The optional collation is only used if the items in the sequence are xs:strings.

Output

The minimum value in the given sequence. The min() function works with the following types of values: numeric values (xs:integer, xs:double, xs:decimal, and xs:float), xs:string, xs:boolean, xs:date, xs:dateTime, xs:time, xs:yearMonthDuration, and xs:dayTimeDuration (but not xs:duration).

Given a sequence of numeric values, the XSLT processor returns the smallest number, converting datatypes as necessary. Given a sequence of durations, the XSLT processor returns the shortest of those durations. Given a sequence of strings, the XSLT processor returns the string that appears first in sorted order.

The min() function assumes you’ll send it a sequence containing sensible data; if not, the XSLT processor throws an error. Asking for the minimum value in the sequence (xs:yearMonthDuration('P4Y2M'), 'strawberry', 3.14) returns an error, as you’d expect.

Some notes about how the min() function works are as follows:

• To find the shortest of a sequence of durations, the values must all be xs:dayTimeDurations, or they must all be xs:yearMonthDurations. You can’t mix the two types of durations; if you do, the XSLT processor throws an error.

• If any of the items in the sequence are of type xs:untypedAtomic, the XSLT processor ...