Re: [xsl] Determining the context node

[Evan Lenz <evan@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I wrote:
> > contained other elements) you would get nothing. 
> For all node types except for elements, <xsl:copy/> behaves exactly 
> the same as <xsl:copy-of select="."/>
I should qualify that. If the current node is a root node, then it just 
instantiates the content of <xsl:copy> (no different than if <xsl:copy> 
weren't there). That's because you never copy root nodes (they're 
created automatically).

The way the XSLT 1.0 spec defines <xsl:copy> is that it copies the 
current node but excludes any children or attributes of the current node.

Effectively, for nodes that never have children or attributes anyway 
(namely: attributes, text nodes, processing instructions, namespace 
nodes, and comments), the behavior is the same as <xsl:copy-of select="."/>.

However, for elements and root nodes, <xsl:copy-of select="."/> performs 
a deep copy, including all attributes (when the current node is an 
element) and child nodes (when the current node is an element or root node).

Evan