David> Because not specifying an axis is the same as specifying
David> child:: axis. There is no context in wich the root node
David> resides on the child axis.
David> self::node() in the context of the root element will match
David> the root node.
It would, but the 'self::' axis isn't allowed in patterns.
<xsl:transform
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
version="1.0">
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:for-each select="self::node()">
<xsl:copy-of select="."/>
</xsl:for-each>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:transform>
XSL-List info and archive: http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list