Copying and Sorting Nodes

• Use the <xsl:copy> to copy nodes
• Use the <xsl:sort> to sort node sets
• (select attribute specifies what to sort on)

For example: Sort the animal elements by leg number in (animals.xml)

XML Input file:

   <?xml version="1.0"?> 
   <animals>
      <animal name="dog" class="mammal" legs="4"/>
      <animal name="shark" class="fish" legs="0"/>
      <animal name="chicken" class="bird" legs="2"/>
   </animals>

XML Output file:

   <?xml version="1.0"?> 
   <animals>
      <animal name="shark" class="fish" legs="0"/>
      <animal name="chicken" class="bird" legs="2"/>
      <animal name="dog" class="mammal" legs="4"/>
   </animals>

XSL Style Sheet:

   <?xml version="1.0"?> 
   <xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" 
                   xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
      <xsl:output indent="yes"/>

      <xsl:template match="text()">
      </xsl:template>

      <xsl:template match="animals">
         <animals>
            <xsl:apply-templates>
               <xsl:sort data-type="number" select="@legs"/>
            </xsl:apply-templates>
         </animals>
      </xsl:template>

      <xsl:template match="animal">
         <xsl:copy>
            <xsl:apply-templates select="* | @*"/>
         </xsl:copy>
     </xsl:template>

     <xsl:template match="* | @*">
        <xsl:copy>
           <xsl:apply-templates select="* | @*"/>
        </xsl:copy>
     </xsl:template>
   </xsl:stylesheet>