How does preceding-sibling::* work?

[senglory]

My XSL:

<xsl:stylesheet
  xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
  xmlns:w="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/wordprocessingml/2006/main"
  version="1.0">
 
  <xsl:template match="@* | node()">
    <xsl:copy>
      <xsl:apply-templates select="@* | node()"/>
    </xsl:copy>
  </xsl:template>
 
  <xsl:template match="w:body">
 
                        <xsl:for-each select="//w:p">
    <xsl:variable name="COUNTER2" select="count(preceding-sibling::*) + 1" />
<xsl:message><xsl:value-of select="$COUNTER2"/> 
</xsl:message>
                        </xsl:for-each>
  </xsl:template>
 
</xsl:stylesheet>
 

XML:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<w:document  xmlns:w="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/wordprocessingml/2006/main">
    <w:body>
 
        <w:p>
        </w:p>
 
        <w:p>
        </w:p>
 
        <w:p>
        </w:p>
 
        <w:tbl>
            <w:tr w:rsidR="0065563E" w:rsidTr="0065563E">
                <w:trPr>
                    <w:cnfStyle w:val="100000000000"/>
                </w:trPr>
                <w:tc>
                    <w:tcPr>
                        <w:cnfStyle w:val="001000000000"/>
                        <w:tcW w:w="2394" w:type="dxa"/>
                    </w:tcPr>
                    <w:p w:rsidR="0065563E" w:rsidRDefault="003A0CBE" w:rsidP="0015368C"><ADDED>1-2</ADDED>
                        <w:r>
                            <w:t>Header</w:t>
                        </w:r>
                    </w:p>
                </w:tc>
                <w:tc>
                    <w:tcPr>
                        <w:tcW w:w="2394" w:type="dxa"/>
                    </w:tcPr>
                    <w:p w:rsidR="0065563E" w:rsidRDefault="0065563E" w:rsidP="0015368C">
                        <w:pPr>
                            <w:cnfStyle w:val="100000000000"/>
                        </w:pPr>
                    </w:p>
                </w:tc>
                <w:tc>
                    <w:tcPr>
                        <w:tcW w:w="2394" w:type="dxa"/>
                    </w:tcPr>
                    <w:p w:rsidR="0065563E" w:rsidRDefault="0065563E" w:rsidP="0015368C">
                        <w:pPr>
                            <w:cnfStyle w:val="100000000000"/>
                        </w:pPr>
                    </w:p>
                </w:tc>
            </w:tr>
        </w:tbl>
 
        <w:p>
 
        </w:p>
 
        <w:p>
            <w:r>
                <w:t>Image inserted</w:t>
            </w:r>
        </w:p>
 
    </w:body>
</w:document>
 

Why do I get this dump:

1
2
3
2
2
2
5
6

I expected it to produce 1,2,3,4... so one so forth. Why is "2" repeated 3 times?

[Dormilich]

because at that position there is 3 times only one preceding sibling. (mind, you are in a "subdirectory")

[Catz]

You can create a simple <xsl:for-each select="//w:p"/> and print the counter in it. You will get 1,2,3,4.. and so on.

[jkmyoung]

Sorry for bumping the thread, but
use preceding::
instead of preceding-sibling::