---
title: "Parse repeating child elements in non-repeating parent node"  
description: "Parse repeating child elements in non-repeating parent node"  
author: "Anonymous User"  
published: 2014-11-06  
updated: 2014-11-06  
canonical: https://www.mindstick.com/forum/2525/parse-repeating-child-elements-in-non-repeating-parent-node  
category: "xml"  
tags: ["xslt", "xslt-2.0"]  
reading_time: 2 minutes  

---

# Parse repeating child elements in non-repeating parent node

I have the following [input](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/159209/how-can-i-read-convert-an-input-stream-into-a-string-in-java) [xml](https://www.mindstick.com/blog/203/working-with-xml-data-in-sql-server) and was wondering if XSLT can [handle](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/311004/suede-skillet-handle-cover) such transformation. If it can, how can it be achieve?

input xml:

```
<foo>
  <bar>
    <A>xxx</A>
    <B>yyy</B>
    <C>zzz</C>
    <A>aaa</A>
    <B>bbb</B>
    <C>ccc</C>
     ...
     ..
  </bar>
</foo>
```

## [output](https://www.mindstick.com/interview/34427/explain-the-output-in-angular) xml:

```
<data>
   <A>xxx</A>
   <B>yyy</B>
   <C>zzz</C>
</data>
<data>
   <A>aaa</A>
   <B>bbb</B>
   <C>ccc</C>
</data>
....
```

There could be more repeating A, B, C [nodes](https://www.mindstick.com/news/2242/on-thursday-google-cloud-announced-the-debut-of-its-own-node-hosting-service-for-web3-developers) in the example above. Since the repetition isn't in a repeating [parent](https://www.mindstick.com/blog/154/how-to-find-parent-of-control-in-wpf) [node](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/161418/what-is-node-js-and-how-does-it-work), it's not possible to use for each. I was [exploring](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/85453/trends-of-the-space-race-and-the-moon-landing-exploring-new-frontiers) the [option](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/159391/jquery-get-selected-option-from-dropdown) of for-each-[group](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/81323/adani-green-energy-group-bags-world-s-biggest-solar-bid) but not sure if that is applicable. Would appreciate any advise.

## Replies

### Reply by Jayden Bell

Using XSLT 1.0, following solution is working - tested with your example XML with 6 elements:\

```
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"><xsl:output method="xml" indent="yes"/><xsl:template match="/*"> <xsl:apply-templates select="/foo/bar"/></xsl:template> <xsl:template match="bar"> <xsl:for-each select="*/node()">   <xsl:if test="(position()-1) mod(3) = 0">    <data>     <xsl:call-template  name="grouping">      <xsl:with-param name="position" select="position()"/>      <xsl:with-param name="amount" select="3"/>     </xsl:call-template>    </data>   </xsl:if>  </xsl:for-each></xsl:template> <xsl:template  name="grouping"><xsl:param name="position" select="0"/><xsl:param name="amount" select="0"/><xsl:copy-of select="//bar/*[$position]"/>   <xsl:if test="$amount > $position or   ($position mod(3) > 0)">    <xsl:call-template  name="grouping">      <xsl:with-param name="position" select="$position + 1"/>      <xsl:with-param name="amount" select="$amount"/>    </xsl:call-template>   </xsl:if> </xsl:template></xsl:stylesheet>
```

**Result:**\

```
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><data>   <A>xxx</A>   <B>yyy</B>   <C>zzz</C></data><data>   <A>aaa</A>   <B>bbb</B>   <C>ccc</C></data>
```

As short explanation - in the template matching "bar" all element-nodes are processed in

```
<xsl:for-each select="*/node()">
```

By using <xsl:if test="(position()-1) mod(3) = 0"> (which is 0 for the 1st node and for every 3rd node) the template named "grouping" is called to provide generating groups of 3 nodes. This template is called with the parameters position - the position of the current node - and amount - the amount of nodes to be copied in each group.


---

Original Source: https://www.mindstick.com/forum/2525/parse-repeating-child-elements-in-non-repeating-parent-node

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