Comma separated list using XPath

[nikoromano]

Can anyone think of a changing these XPath expressions to return comma
separated lists?

/Library/Branch/book/(if(author="John") then position() else "")
output: 1 3 5
desired output: 1, 3, 5

/Library/Branch/book/(if(author="Mary") then position() else "")
output: 2
desired output: 2

/Library/Branch/book/(if(author="Mark") then position() else "")
output: 4
desired output: 4

<Library>
<Branch>
<book>
<author>John</author>
</book>
<book>
<author>Mary</author>
</book>
</Branch>
<Branch>
<book>
<author>John</author>
</book>
<book>
<author>Mark</author>
</book>
<book>
<author>John</author>
</Branch>
</Library>

[Joseph Kesselman]

ni********@gmail.com wrote:

Can anyone think of a changing these XPath expressions to return comma
separated lists?

XPath itself just retrieves information; formatting it is someone else's
job. You'd want something more like XSLT or XQuery, which can generate
new structure around the extracted data. Or you'd need to invoke the
XPath from a bit of code which generated the appropriate wrapper text.
--
Joe Kesselman / Beware the fury of a patient man. -- John Dryden

[Dimitre Novatchev]

"Joseph Kesselman" <ke************@comcast.netwrote in message
news:47508444$1@kcnews01...

ni********@gmail.com wrote:

>Can anyone think of a changing these XPath expressions to return comma
separated lists?

XPath itself just retrieves information; formatting it is someone else's
job. You'd want something more like XSLT or XQuery, which can generate new
structure around the extracted data. Or you'd need to invoke the XPath
from a bit of code which generated the appropriate wrapper text.

Not quite so ...

The evaluation of this expression:

"/Library/Branch/book
/(if(author='John')
then concat(position(),
if(not(position() eq last()))
then ','
else ''
)
else ()
)"

produces the wanted results:

1, 3, 5
Cheers,
Dimitre Novatchev

[Martin Honnen]

Joseph Kesselman wrote:

ni********@gmail.com wrote:

>Can anyone think of a changing these XPath expressions to return comma
separated lists?

XPath itself just retrieves information; formatting it is someone else's
job.

No longer quite true for XPath 2.0 which the original poster seemed to
use anyway.
--

Martin Honnen
http://JavaScript.FAQTs.com/

[Joe Kesselman]

/(if(author='John')

I believe if/then/else expressions require XPath 2.0 or XQuery. If
that's what you have available, go for it; if you're using 1.0...

--
() ASCII Ribbon Campaign | Joe Kesselman
/\ Stamp out HTML e-mail! | System architexture and kinetic poetry

[Dimitre Novatchev]

"Joe Kesselman" <ke************@comcast.netwrote in message
news:gq******************************@comcast.com. ..

> /(if(author='John')

I believe if/then/else expressions require XPath 2.0 or XQuery. If that's
what you have available, go for it;

Yes, this was the code in the OP first post.
Cheers,
Dimitre Novatchev