What is the difference between name() and local-name()?

xml, xpath

Solution

With the XML being

<x:html xmlns:x="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"/>

the stylesheet

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

  <xsl:output indent="yes"/>

  <xsl:template match="*">
    <local-name><xsl:value-of select="local-name()"/></local-name>
    <name><xsl:value-of select="name()"/></name>
  </xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

outputs

<local-name>html</local-name>
<name>x:html</name>

So the `local-name()` result is without any prefix, `the name()` result might include a prefix.

In your sample with a default namespace declaration no prefix is present, therefore `name()` and `local-name()` give the same result.

Problem

I don't really understand the difference between the XPath functions `name` and `local-name`. Could you give an example of a situation where they would differ? Edit Given this example: ``` <?xml version="1.0" ?> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <head></head> </html> ``` I get the same result with these two queries: `//*[local-name()="head"]` and `//*[name()="head"]`. Why is that?

Original source