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XSLT <xsl:template>

How the XSLT <xsl:template> element works, including its match attribute, syntax, attributes (name, mode, priority), and practical examples for transforming XML documents.

XSLT <xsl:template>

The <xsl:template> element contains rules to apply when a specified node is matched.

The match attribute is used to associate the template with an XML element. The match attribute can also be used to define a template for a whole branch of the XML document (i.e. match="/" defines the whole document).

Syntax

<xsl:template
	name="name"
	match="pattern"
	mode="mode"
	priority="number">

	<!-- Content:(<xsl:param>*,template) -->  

</xsl:template>

Attributes

Attribute Value Required/Optional Description
name name Optional Specifies a name for the template.

Note: If this attribute is omitted there must be a match attribute
match pattern Optional The match pattern for the template.

Note: If this attribute is omitted there must be a name attribute
mode mode Optional Specifies a mode for this template
priority number Optional A number which indicates the numeric priority of the template

Example

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>

We want to list title and author of each book:

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>
  <xsl:apply-templates/>
  </body>
  </html>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="book">
  <p>
  <xsl:apply-templates select="title"/>
  <xsl:apply-templates select="author"/>
  </p>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="title">
  Title: <span style="color:#ff0000">
  <xsl:value-of select="."/></span>
  <br />
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="author">
  Author: <span style="color:#00ff00">
  <xsl:value-of select="."/></span>
  <br />
</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>
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