Question

I have a XML file having default namespace and empty namespaces which need to be removed, while keeping the rest of namespaces.

Input:

<prefix:request xmlns:prefix="urn1" xmlns:foo2="urn2" xmlns="urn1">
<element1 xmlns="">version1</element1>
<element2 xsi:type="prefix:requestA" xmlns=""/>
...
</element1>
</prefix:request>

Expected output:

<prefix:request xmlns:prefix="urn1" xmlns:foo2="urn2">
<element1>version1</element1>
<element2 xsi:type="prefix:requestA"/>
...
</element1>
</prefix:request>

XSLT sample for removing namespaces will filter out all namespaces, including the prefix. Any idea how to solve this particular case?

Answer 1

This short transformation:

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
 xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
 <xsl:output omit-xml-declaration="yes" indent="yes"/>
 <xsl:strip-space elements="*"/>

 <xsl:template match="*">
     <xsl:element name="{name()}" namespace="{namespace-uri()}">
       <xsl:copy-of select="@*|namespace::*[name()]"/>
       <xsl:apply-templates select="node()"/>
     </xsl:element>
 </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

when applied on the (severely malformed and having to be corrected) provided XML-like input:

<prefix:request xmlns:xsi="Undefined !!!"
xmlns:prefix="urn1" xmlns:foo2="urn2"
xmlns="urn1">
    <element1 xmlns="">version1</element1>
    <element2 xsi:type="prefix:requestA" xmlns=""/> ...  
</prefix:request>

produces the wanted, correct result:

<prefix:request xmlns:prefix="urn1" xmlns:xsi="Undefined !!!" xmlns:foo2="urn2">
   <element1>version1</element1>
   <element2 xsi:type="prefix:requestA"/> ...  
</prefix:request>