xslt-lab/site/content/xslt/functions/xsl-import-schema.md

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

title	description	date	version	versionLabel	category	syntax	tags
xsl:import-schema	Imports an XML Schema to enable schema-aware processing, typed variable declarations, and validation of input and output documents.	2026-04-18T00:00:00Z	2.0	XSLT 2.0	element	<xsl:import-schema namespace="uri" schema-location="file.xsd"/>	xslt reference xslt2

Description

xsl:import-schema is a top-level declaration that imports an XML Schema into the stylesheet. Once imported, the schema's type definitions become available for:

• Type annotations in as attributes on variables, parameters, and functions.
• Schema-aware matching patterns such as element(*, xs:integer).
• Input validation via xsl:validate (Saxon-EE).
• Output validation using the validation attribute on result elements.

Schema-aware processing is an optional feature of XSLT 2.0 and requires a schema-aware processor such as Saxon-EE. Saxon-HE and Saxon-PE do not support schema import.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
namespace	URI	No	The target namespace of the schema to import. Omit for schemas with no target namespace.
schema-location	URI	No	Hint to the processor about where to find the schema document.

Content: may contain an inline xs:schema element instead of using schema-location.

Return value

No direct output. Populates the in-scope schema definitions for the stylesheet.

Examples

Importing a schema and using typed variables

Schema (order.xsd):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
           targetNamespace="http://example.com/order"
           xmlns:ord="http://example.com/order">
  <xs:element name="order">
    <xs:complexType>
      <xs:sequence>
        <xs:element name="item" maxOccurs="unbounded">
          <xs:complexType>
            <xs:attribute name="price" type="xs:decimal" use="required"/>
            <xs:attribute name="qty"   type="xs:integer" use="required"/>
          </xs:complexType>
        </xs:element>
      </xs:sequence>
    </xs:complexType>
  </xs:element>
</xs:schema>

Stylesheet:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="2.0"
  xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
  xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
  xmlns:ord="http://example.com/order">

  <xsl:import-schema namespace="http://example.com/order"
                     schema-location="order.xsd"/>

  <xsl:output method="xml" indent="yes"/>

  <xsl:template match="/">
    <xsl:variable name="total" as="xs:decimal"
      select="sum(/ord:order/item/@price * /ord:order/item/@qty)"/>
    <summary total="{$total}"/>
  </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Importing a no-namespace schema inline

Stylesheet:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="2.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
                xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">

  <xsl:import-schema>
    <xs:schema>
      <xs:element name="record">
        <xs:complexType>
          <xs:attribute name="id"   type="xs:integer" use="required"/>
          <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:string"  use="required"/>
        </xs:complexType>
      </xs:element>
    </xs:schema>
  </xsl:import-schema>

  <xsl:output method="xml" indent="yes"/>

  <xsl:template match="/record">
    <out id="{@id}" name="{upper-case(@name)}"/>
  </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Notes

• xsl:import-schema requires a schema-aware XSLT 2.0 processor. Saxon-HE does not support this feature.
• The schema-location attribute is only a hint; processors may find the schema by namespace alone if they maintain a schema catalog.
• Importing a schema does not automatically validate the source document. Use the validation attribute on xsl:apply-templates or xsl:result-document for validation.
• Multiple schemas may be imported by using several xsl:import-schema elements; circular imports are allowed if they mirror valid schema inclusion patterns.

See also

• xsl:namespace
• xsl:function
• xsl:output