XSLT, 2nd Edition

Recursion Isn’t Necessary Nearly as Often

In XSLT 1.0 stylesheets, tail recursion was a common technique. String replacement, for example, requires a recursive template that replaces the first instance of a substring, and then reinvokes itself with the remainder of the string. In XSLT 2.0, you can use the replace() function. Recursive templates are much more difficult to write and maintain; if you can replace them with simpler code in an XSLT 2.0 stylesheet, it’s worth it. See the section [2.0] Using the XPath 2.0 replace() Function to Avoid Recursion” in Chapter 5 for a more detailed example. Another good example is in the section Doing Math Without Recursion” in Chapter 8.