xml - How to change or reassign a variable in XSLT?

Question

How can I reassign a value to a variable previously assigned? I need it to works like this:

<xsl:variable name="variable2" select="'N'" />
....
<xsl:when test="@tip = '2' and $variable2 != 'Y'">                                                   
    <xsl:variable name="variable2" select="'Y'" />
</xsl:when>

Answer 1

Variables in XSLT may only be assigned a value once. This is done by design. See Why Functional languages? for an appreciation of the motivation in general.

Rather than reassign a variable, write conditionals against the input document directly, or call a function (or named template) recursively with varying local parameters.

Anything you need to do can be done with an approach that does not require reassignment of variables. To receive a more specific answer, provide a more specific question.

See also:

• In XSLT how do I increment a global variable from a different scope?
• Increment a value in XSLT
• Use recursion effectively in XSL