XSLT and XPATH: A Guide to XML Transformations

8.1. Declaring and Binding Variables

Variables are declared in an XSLT stylesheet with either the <xsl:variable> element or the <xsl:param> element. Binding a value to a variable is the process of assigning the variable to a value. Therefore, when a value is assigned to a variable, it is said to be bound to that variable. Declaring a variable and binding a value to a variable happen simultaneously. It is not possible to declare a variable without also assigning a value to it. It may help to remember that, when a variable is declared, it refers to the physical location of the <xsl:variable> or <xsl:param> in the stylesheet, and when a variable is bound, it refers to the processor's instantiation of the value of that variable.

Variable values are ...