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XSLT <xsl:choose> Element

The <xsl:choose> element is used in conjunction with <xsl:when> and <xsl:otherwise> to express multiple conditional tests.

<xsl:choose> Element​

Syntax​

The syntax of <xsl:choose> is as follows:

<xsl:choose >
    <xsl:when test="expression">  
        ... some output ...  
    </xsl:when>  
    <xsl:otherwise>  
        ... some output ....  
    </xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>

Example​

Let's see an example:

books.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="books.xsl"?>

<bookstore>
    <book category="children">
        <title lang="en">Harry Potter</title>
        <author>J K. Rowling</author>
        <year>2005</year>
        <price>29.99</price>
    </book>
    <book category="web">
        <title lang="en">XQuery Tips</title>
        <author>Tom Nolan</author>
        <year>2022</year>
        <price>39.99</price>
    </book>
    <book category="web">
        <title lang="en">Learn XML</title>
        <author>Tutorial Reference</author>
        <year>2022</year>
        <price>9.99</price>
    </book>
</bookstore>
books.xsl
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">

<xsl:template match="/">
    <html>
        <body>
            <h2>The Bookstore</h2>
            <table border="1">
                <tr bgcolor="#6565d5">
                    <th>Title</th>
                    <th>Author</th>
                    <th>Year</th>
                    <th>Price</th>
                    <th>Before 2000</th>
                </tr>  
                <xsl:for-each select="bookstore/book">
                    <tr>
                        <td><xsl:value-of select="title"/></td>
                        <td><xsl:value-of select="author"/></td>
                        <td><xsl:value-of select="year"/></td>
                        <td><xsl:value-of select="price"/></td>
                        <td>
                            <xsl:choose>  
                                <xsl:when test="year &lt; 2000">Yes</xsl:when> 
                                <xsl:otherwise> No </xsl:otherwise>
                            </xsl:choose>
                        </td>
                    </tr>
                </xsl:for-each>
            </table>
        </body>
    </html>
</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>
note

In the example, the "Before 2000" column has value "Yes" when the year of the book is before 2000, "No" otherwise.

note

You can declare multiple <xsl:when> element.

For example:

<xsl:choose> 
    <xsl:when test="temperature > 90"> High </xsl:when> 
    <xsl:when test="temperature > 50"> Medium </xsl:when> 
    <xsl:otherwise> Low </xsl:otherwise> 
</xsl:choose>

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