RE: [xsl] String containing both single and double quotes (apos and quot) in XPath expression

["Michael Kay" <mike@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In 2.0 you can escape the string delimiter by doubling it: ' as '', or " as
"". And of course you can escape the attribute delimiter using an XML entity
reference.

<xsl:if test="$x = 'He said, &quot;I can''t&quot'">

In 1.0 you can't have a string literal containing both single and double
quotes. Use concat:

<xsl:variable name="quot">"</xsl:variable>
<xsl:variable name="apos">'</xsl:variable>

<xsl:if test="$x = concat('He said, ', $quot, 'I can', $apos, 't', $quot)"> 

Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Ludwig [mailto:mlu@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] 
> Sent: 28 November 2008 11:43
> To: xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [xsl] String containing both single and double 
> quotes (apos and quot) in XPath expression
> 
> I want to hold a string containing both single and double 
> quotes (apos and quot) in a variable.
> 
> <xsl:variable name="x" select="'...'"/>
> 
> I enclose the XPath expression in double quotes, hence I'll 
> have to use entity references or numerical character 
> references to refer to that character from within the 
> expression. Correct.
> 
> I enclose the string in single quotes, hence - I think - I'll 
> have to use entity references or numerical character 
> references to refer to that character from with the string. 
> And this is wrong.
> 
> <xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
>    xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform";>
>    <xsl:output method="text"/>
>    <!-- quot ist 34 (x22), apos ist 39 (x27) -->
>    <xsl:variable name="x"
>      select="'&quot;O&apos;Reilly&quot;'"/><!-- wrong -->
>    <xsl:template match="/">
>      <xsl:value-of select="$x"/>
>      <xsl:text>&#10;</xsl:text>
>    </xsl:template>
> </xsl:stylesheet>
> 
> Trying to think about it a bit more logically, I find that 
> XPath does not require any of < > & to be treated specially, 
> and that both entity references and numerical character 
> references don't have anything to do with XPath - they're XML 
> constructs.
> 
> So in this example, the XML parser resolves the references 
> and the XPath engine never gets to see them. Instead, it gets 
> to see a syntax error.
> 
> Is this analysis correct?
> 
> It seems there is no way to include a single quote within a 
> string that is itself contained in single quotes. Conversely, 
> the same applies for double quotes. This is a bit hard to 
> believe. Is it true?
> 
> I wish I could use a backslash! Have I missed anything?
> 
> I see two solutions in XSLT 1.0:
> 
> * I can write the xsl:variable as an RTF, which offers much better
>    readability.
> 
> * I can split the string according to whether single or double quotes
>    occur in it and use the XPath 1.0 concat() function to 
> make it whole
>    again.
> 
> Do I have more options?
> 
> In 2.0, instead of an RTF, I'd have a temporary tree. What 
> else has changed that is of immediate interest to the problem at hand?
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Michael Ludwig