Question

This is a problem I came across.

source xml:

<n0>Hello1</n0>
<n1>Hello3</n1>
<name>Hello2</name>

I can use

<xsl:template match="*[starts-with(name(),'n')]">

to match n0,n1. but I dont want to match ‘name’, what can I do to match only n0,n1?

Answer 1

The best match would depend on your rules.

For example if you just want to exclude ‘name’ specifically, then use…

*[starts-with(name(),'n')][not(self::name)]

On the other hand if you wanted to match ‘n’ followed by a digit (as opposed to n following by a letter or dash), then use…

*[starts-with(name(),'n')][number(substring(name(),2,1))>-1]

It is not possible to give an optimal solution, until you can unambiguously and rigorously define the desired matching condition.

Also, if it is ONLY n1 and n2 that you want to match, then you can use…

n1 | n2