Search code examples
regexxsltxslt-2.0word-boundary

How to find a word within text using XSLT 2.0 and REGEX (which doesn't have \b word boundary)?

I am attempting to scan a string of words and look for the presence of a particular word(case insensitive) in an XSLT 2.0 stylesheet using REGEX.

I have a list of words that I wish to iterate over and determine whether or not they exist within a given string.

I want to match on a word anywhere within the given text, but I do not want to match within a word (i.e. A search for foo should not match on "food" and a search for bar should not match on "rebar").

XSLT 2.0 REGEX does not have a word boundary(\b), so I need to replicate it as best I can.

Solution

  • You can use alternation to avoid repetition:

    <xsl:if test="matches($prose, concat('(^|\W)', $word, '($|\W)'),'i')">