XSLT, 2nd Edition

Name

number()

Converts its argument to a number.

Syntax

[1.0] number number(object?)
[2.0] xs:double number()
[2.0] xs:double number(xs:anyAtomicType)

Inputs

[1.0] An object.

[2.0] An xs:anyAtomicType value.

Output

A number. If no argument is passed to the number function, the context item is used. The specific rules for converting the argument to a number are different for XSLT 1.0 and 2.0.

[1.0] Here are the rules for XSLT 1.0:

• If the argument is a boolean value, the value true is converted to the number 1; the value false is converted to the number 0.

• If the argument is a node-set, the node-set is converted to a string as if it were passed to the string() function, and then that string is converted to a number like any other string. (Remember that the string() function returns the string value of the first node in the node-set.)

• If the argument is a string, it is converted as follows:

  • If the string consists of optional whitespace, followed by an optional minus sign (–), followed by a number, followed by whitespace, it is converted to the floating-point value nearest to the mathematical value represented by the string. (The IEEE 754 standard defines a round-to-nearest rule; see the standard for more information.)

  • Any other string is converted to the value NaN (not a number).

• XSLT 1.0 processors are allowed to support other datatypes. If the argument is any other type, it is converted to a number in a way that depends on that type. See the documentation for your XSLT processor to find out what ...