xslt-lab/site/content/xslt/functions/xsl-element.md

title, description, date, version, versionLabel, category, syntax, tags

title	description	date	version	versionLabel	category	syntax	tags
xsl:element	Creates an element node in the result tree with a name computed at runtime from an XPath expression.	2026-04-18T00:00:00Z	1.0	XSLT 1.0	element	<xsl:element name="name" namespace="uri" use-attribute-sets="names">	xslt reference xslt1

Description

xsl:element generates an element in the output whose tag name is determined at transformation time, not written literally in the stylesheet. The name attribute is an attribute value template (curly-brace expressions are evaluated and substituted), so it can incorporate source-document data, variable values, or any XPath expression.

When you know the element name in advance, you simply write the literal element directly in the stylesheet — for example <result>...</result>. xsl:element is only necessary when the element name must be computed dynamically.

The content of xsl:element is a template body: any XSLT instructions and literal result elements placed inside become the children and attributes of the generated element. Attributes must be added before any child elements; the typical pattern is to emit xsl:attribute children first, then content.

Attributes

Attribute	Type	Required	Description
name	AVT (QName)	Yes	Name of the element to create. Evaluated as an attribute value template.
namespace	AVT (URI)	No	Namespace URI for the created element. Overrides any prefix in name.
use-attribute-sets	whitespace-separated QNames	No	Attribute sets to expand onto the element.

Examples

Element name from source data

Input XML:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<fields>
  <field name="username" value="alice"/>
  <field name="email" value="alice@example.com"/>
  <field name="role" value="admin"/>
</fields>

Stylesheet:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
  <xsl:output method="xml" indent="yes"/>

  <xsl:template match="/fields">
    <user>
      <xsl:apply-templates select="field"/>
    </user>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="field">
    <xsl:element name="{@name}">
      <xsl:value-of select="@value"/>
    </xsl:element>
  </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Output:

<user>
  <username>alice</username>
  <email>alice@example.com</email>
  <role>admin</role>
</user>

Computing element name from a variable

Input XML:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<items>
  <item type="product">Widget</item>
  <item type="service">Support</item>
</items>

Stylesheet:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
  <xsl:output method="xml" indent="yes"/>

  <xsl:template match="/items">
    <catalog>
      <xsl:apply-templates select="item"/>
    </catalog>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="item">
    <xsl:variable name="tag" select="@type"/>
    <xsl:element name="{$tag}">
      <xsl:attribute name="label"><xsl:value-of select="."/></xsl:attribute>
    </xsl:element>
  </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Output:

<catalog>
  <product label="Widget"/>
  <service label="Support"/>
</catalog>

Notes

• If the computed name is not a valid XML QName, most processors raise an error. Validate source data or use xsl:choose to guard against invalid names.
• xsl:attribute children of xsl:element must appear before any non-attribute content (text, child elements). Placing them after content is an error.
• The namespace attribute overrides the namespace implied by any prefix in the name value. If name has a prefix but no namespace is provided, the prefix must be bound in the stylesheet's in-scope namespaces.
• In XSLT 2.0+, xsl:element also accepts an inherit-namespaces attribute to control whether namespace nodes are inherited by child elements.

See also

• xsl:attribute
• xsl:attribute-set
• xsl:copy