XSLT <key>

<xsl:key> tag element specifies a named name-value pair assigned to a specific element in an XML document. This key is used with the key() function in XPath expressions to access the assigned elements in an XML document.

Declaration

Following is the syntax declaration of <xsl:key> element.

<xsl:key 
   name = QName 
   match = Pattern 
   use = Expression > 
</xsl:key>

Attributes

S.No Name & Description
1

Name

Name of the key to be used.
2

Match

Patterns used to identify a node that holds this key.
3

Use

XPath expression to identify the value of the nodes of xml document.

Elements

Number of Occurrences Unlimited
Parent elements xsl:stylesheet
Child elements None

Demo Example

This example creates a table of <student> element with its attribute rollno and its child <firstname>, <lastname>, <nickname>, and <marks> by iterating over each student. It checks key as firstname to be one of the student's name and then prints the student details.

students.xml

<?xml version = "1.0"?> 
<?xml-stylesheet type = "text/xsl" href = "students.xsl"?> 
<class> 
   <student rollno = "393"> 
      <firstname>Dinkar</firstname> 
      <lastname>Kad</lastname> 
      <nickname>Dinkar</nickname> 
      <marks>85</marks> 
   </student> 
   <student rollno = "493"> 
      <firstname>Vaneet</firstname> 
      <lastname>Gupta</lastname> 
      <nickname>Vinni</nickname> 
      <marks>95</marks> 
   </student> 
   <student rollno = "593"> 
      <firstname>Jasvir</firstname> 
      <lastname>Singh</lastname> 
      <nickname>Jazz</nickname> 
      <marks>90</marks> 
   </student> 
</class>

students.xsl

<xsl:stylesheet version = "1.0" 
   xmlns:xsl = "http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
   <xsl:key name = "firstname-search" match = "student" use = "firstname"/> 
   <xsl:template match = "/"> 
      <html> 
         <body> 
            <h2>Students</h2> 
            <table border = "1"> 
               <tr bgcolor = "#9acd32"> 
                  <th>Roll No</th> 
                  <th>First Name</th> 
                  <th>Last Name</th> 
                  <th>Nick Name</th> 
                  <th>Marks</th> 
               </tr> 
					
               <xsl:for-each select = "key('firstname-search', 'Dinkar')"> 
				
                  <tr> 
                     <td><xsl:value-of select = "@rollno"/></td> 
                     <td><xsl:value-of select = "firstname"/></td> 
                     <td><xsl:value-of select = "lastname"/></td> 
                     <td><xsl:value-of select = "nickname"/></td> 
                     <td><xsl:value-of select = "marks"/></td> 
                  </tr> 
					
               </xsl:for-each> 
            </table> 
         </body> 
      </html> 
   </xsl:template>  
</xsl:stylesheet>

Output

Formatted Key Output
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