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XSLT <xsl:otherwise>

How to use the <xsl:otherwise> element in XSLT to define default actions when none of the <xsl:when> conditions match in an <xsl:choose> statement.

XSLT <xsl:otherwise>

The <xsl:otherwise> element specifies a default action for the <xsl:choose> element. This action will take place when none of the <xsl:when> conditions apply.

Syntax

<xsl:otherwise>
	<!-- Content:template -->
</xsl:otherwise>

Attributes

The <xsl:otherwise> element has no attributes.

Example

Let's see some examples:

Example 1

Consider the XML document about a bookstore shown below:

books.xmlxml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="books.xsl"?>

<bookstore>
	<book category="children">
		<title lang="en">Harry Potter</title>
		<author>J K. Rowling</author>
		<year>2005</year>
		<price>29.99</price>
	</book>
	<book category="web">
		<title lang="en">XQuery Tips</title>
		<author>Tom Nolan</author>
		<year>2022</year>
		<price>39.99</price>
	</book>
	<book category="web">
		<title lang="en">Learn XML</title>
		<author>Tutorial Reference</author>
		<year>2022</year>
		<price>9.99</price>
	</book>
</bookstore>

The code below will add a red background-color to the author column when the price of the book is higher than 15, otherwise it will just print the name of the author:

books.xslxml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">

<xsl:template match="/">
  <html>
  <body>
    <h2>The Bookstore</h2>
    <table border="1">
      <tr bgcolor="#6565d5">
        <th>Title</th>
        <th>Author</th>
      </tr>
      <xsl:for-each select="bookstore/book">
      <tr>
        <td><xsl:value-of select="title"/></td>
        <xsl:choose>
          <xsl:when test="price&gt;'15'">
            <td bgcolor="#ff0000">
            <xsl:value-of select="author"/></td>
          </xsl:when>
          <xsl:otherwise>
            <td><xsl:value-of select="author"/></td>
          </xsl:otherwise>
        </xsl:choose>
      </tr>
      </xsl:for-each>
    </table>
  </body>
  </html>
</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

Example 2

Declare a variable named "color". Set its value to the color attribute of the current element. If the current element has no color attribute, the value of "color" will be "blue":

<xsl:variable name="color">
  <xsl:choose>
    <xsl:when test="@color">
      <xsl:value-of select="@color"/>
    </xsl:when>
    <xsl:otherwise>blue</xsl:otherwise>
  </xsl:choose>
</xsl:variable>
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