Re: [xml-dev] Can Xpath 1.0 print "position()" results?

[Robert Koberg <rob@koberg.com>]

On Oct 22, 2008, at 3:09 PM, Karr, David wrote:

>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Robert Koberg [mailto:rob@koberg.com]
>> Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 11:41 AM
>> To: Karr, David
>> Subject: Re: [xml-dev] Can Xpath 1.0 print "position()" results?
>>
>>
>> On Oct 22, 2008, at 2:35 PM, Karr, David wrote:
>>
>>> Not that I really need to know this, but someone asked this on
>>> StackOverflow, and now I gotta know. :)
>>>
>>> Is it possible for a plain Xpath 1.0 query to return a
>> "position()"
>>> value?  I know it can be used in predicates, but that
>> simply results
>>> in the found element at that position.  I know I can return the
>>> "text()" result from an Xpath, but is it not possible to return the
>>> "position()" value?  If that's the case, I imagine there are other
>>> functions that might seem logical to get values from that
>> won't work
>>> like this.
>>>
>>
>> <xsl:value-of select="position()"/>
>>
>> of course this is entirely dependent on the context you are
>> in and how you got to the context you are in.
>
> Thanks, but I'm asking specifically for Xpath, not XSLT.

XPath can't write out anything by itself. You need some host language.  
You still need to understand what context you are in and how you got  
there.

-Rob