replacing text in xml using xslt

Question

I have an XML file which has some values in child Element aswell in attributes. If i want to replace some text when specific value is matched how can i achieve it? I tried using xlst:translate() function. But i cant use this function for each element or attribute in xml. So is there anyway to replace/translate value at one shot?

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Employee>
 <Name>Emp1</Name>
 <Age>40</Age>
 <sex>M</sex>
 <Address>Canada</Address> 
 <PersonalInformation>
   <Country>Canada</country>
   <Street1>KO 92</Street1>   
 </PersonalInformation>
</Employee>

Output :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Employee>
 <Name>Emp1</Name>
 <Age>40</Age>
 <sex>M</sex>
 <Address>UnitedStates</Address> 
 <PersonalInformation>
   <Country>UnitedStates</country>
   <Street1>KO 92</Street1>   
 </PersonalInformation>
</Employee>

in the output, replaced text from Canada to UnitedStates. so, without using xslt:transform() functions on any element , i should be able to replace text Canada to UnitedStates irrespective of level nodes. Where ever i find 'Canada' i should be able to replace to 'UnitedStates' in entire xml. So how can i achieve this.?

Answer 1

I. XSLT 1.0 solution:

This transformation:

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
 xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
 xmlns:my="my:my" >
 <xsl:output omit-xml-declaration="yes" indent="yes"/>
 <xsl:strip-space elements="*"/>
 <my:Reps>
  <rep>
    <old>replace this</old>
    <new>replaced</new>
  </rep>
  <rep>
    <old>cat</old>
    <new>tiger</new>
  </rep>
 </my:Reps>

 <xsl:variable name="vReps" select=
  "document('')/*/my:Reps/*"/>

 <xsl:template match="node()|@*" name="identity">
  <xsl:copy>
   <xsl:apply-templates select="node()|@*"/>
  </xsl:copy>
 </xsl:template>

 <xsl:template match="@*">
  <xsl:attribute name="{name()}">
   <xsl:call-template name="replace">
    <xsl:with-param name="pText" select="."/>
   </xsl:call-template>
  </xsl:attribute>
 </xsl:template>

 <xsl:template match="text()" name="replace">
  <xsl:param name="pText" select="."/>
   <xsl:if test="string-length($pText)">
     <xsl:choose>
       <xsl:when test=
        "not($vReps/old[contains($pText, .)])">
         <xsl:copy-of select="$pText"/>
       </xsl:when>
       <xsl:otherwise>
         <xsl:variable name="vthisRep" select=
         "$vReps/old[contains($pText, .)][1]
         "/>

         <xsl:variable name="vNewText">
           <xsl:value-of
            select="substring-before($pText, $vthisRep)"/>
           <xsl:value-of select="$vthisRep/../new"/>
           <xsl:value-of select=
            "substring-after($pText, $vthisRep)"/>
         </xsl:variable>

         <xsl:call-template name="replace">
           <xsl:with-param name="pText"
            select="$vNewText"/>
         </xsl:call-template>
       </xsl:otherwise>
     </xsl:choose>
   </xsl:if>
 </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

when applied on this XML document:

<t>
 <a attr1="X replace this Y">
   <b>cat mouse replace this cat dog</b>
 </a>
 <c/>
</t>

produces the wanted, correct result:

<t>
   <a attr1="X replaced Y">
      <b>tiger mouse replaced tiger dog</b>
   </a>
   <c/>
</t>

Explanation:

1. The identity rule is used to copy "as-is" some nodes.

2. We perform multiple replacements, parameterized in my:Reps

3. If a text node or an attribute doesn't contain any rep-target, it is copied as-is.

4. If a text node or an attribute contains text to be replaced (rep target), then the replacements are done in the order specified in my:Reps

5. If the string contains more than one string target, then all targets are replaced: first all occurences of the first rep target, then all occurences of the second rep target, ..., last all occurences of the last rep target.

II. XSLT 2.0 solution:

In XSLT 2.0 one can simply use the standard XPath 2.0 function replace(). However, for multiple replacements the solution would be still very similar to the XSLT 1.0 solution specified above.