Re: [xsl] questions on "number('+5')"

[Michael Kay <mike@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> So "number('+5')" should result in NaN.

In XSLT 1.0, yes, it should. In XSLT 2.0 it should result in the integer 5.
> Here is the result of "number('+5')" for different XSLT processors:
> Chrome      NaN
> DataPower   NaN
> Firefox     NaN
> IE          NaN
> Opera       5
> Safari      NaN
> saxon       5
> xalan       5
> xsltproc    NaN

Saxon 9.x correctly reports the result 5. Saxon 6.5.5 correctly reports 
the result NaN.

> Two questions:
> 1) Is it true that XSLT processors returning 5 are non-compliant?
They are non-compliant with XSLT 1.0, yes.

> 2) Is  the following a good workaround?
>
> <xsl:variable name="str" select="'+5'"/>
> <xsl:value-of select="number(substring($str,1+starts-with($node,'+')))"/>
It depends a bit on the syntax you want to accept and the error checking 
you want to perform. For many purposes, number(translate($str, '+','')) 
would work adequately.

Michael Kay
Saxonica