Re: [xml-dev] xpath: which is right?

["Thomas B. Passin" <tpassin@comcast.net>]

Suzan Foster wrote:

> Taking the following XML:
> 
>  <foo>
>     <bar id="1" />
>     <bar id="2" />
>     <bar id="3" />
>     <fu />
>   </foo>
> 
> which value should be returned by the xpath:
> 
> preceding::bar[1]/@id
> 
> libxslt says 3, whilst XML::XPath says 1.

Depends on the context node.  Starting from the <fu/> node, the value 
"3" is correct, but starting from some other node, it is not.  The 
preceding axis picks up nodes in reverse document order up to but not 
including the first ancestor node.

Cheers,

Tom P