Name

count()

Counts the number of nodes in a given [1.0] node-set or [2.0] sequence.

Syntax

[1.0] number count(node-set)
[2.0] xs:integer count(item()*)

Inputs

A node-set or sequence.

Output

The number of items in the node-set or sequence. [2.0] If the argument is the empty sequence, count() returns 0.

Defined in

[1.0] XPath section 4.1, “Node Set Functions.”

[2.0] XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Functions and Operators section 15.4, “Aggregate Functions.”

Examples

Here’s the XML document we’ll use to illustrate the count() function:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- chocolate.xml -->
<report month="8" year="2006">
  <title>Chocolate bar sales</title>
  <brand>
    <name>Lindt</name>
    <units>27408</units>
  </brand>
  <brand>
    <name>Callebaut</name>
    <units>8203</units>
  </brand>
  <brand>
    <name>Valrhona</name>
    <units>22101</units>
  </brand>
  <brand>
    <name>Perugina</name>
    <units>14336</units>
  </brand>
  <brand>
    <name>Ghirardelli</name>
    <units>19268</units>
  </brand>
</report>

And our stylesheet that illustrates the count() function:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!-- count.xsl -->
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
  xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">

  <xsl:output method="text"/>

  <xsl:template match="/">
    <xsl:text>&#xA;Tests of the count() function:&#xA;&#xA;</xsl:text>

    <xsl:text>  Our store sells </xsl:text>
    <xsl:value-of select="count(/report/brand)"/>
    <xsl:text> different brands of chocolate.</xsl:text>
    <xsl:text>&#xA;&#xA;  For the last month, </xsl:text>
 <xsl:value-of select="count(/report/brand[units > 20000])"/> ...

Get XSLT, 2nd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial