finding nodes that don't match other nodes

[mlybarger]

i'm trying to use xpath to find nodes that don't match any other nodes
(of a different type). here's an example xml:

<a>
<b>
<c>one</c>
<c>three</c>

<d>
<e>one</e>
<e>three</e>
<e>five</e>
</d>
</a>

what i want to find are all the e nodes that don't have a matching c
node (five in this case). any pointers would be most appreciated!
~thanks

 

[Joris Gillis]

<a>
<b>
<c>one</c>
<c>three</c>

<d>
<e>one</e>
<e>three</e>
<e>five</e>
</d>
</a>

what i want to find are all the e nodes that don't have a matching c
node (five in this case). any pointers would be most appreciated!

Hi,

A short, but CPU unfriendly method is this:
<xsl:template match="a">
<xsl:apply-templates select=".//e[not(.=//c)]"/>
</xsl:template>

A key approach could be used for better performance:
<xsl:key name="node" match="c" use="."/>

<xsl:template match="a">
<xsl:apply-templates select=".//e[not(key('node',.))]"/>
</xsl:template>

regards,

 

[Mark]

excellent, thanks Joris!