This specification defines the syntax and semantics of XSLT 3.0, a language for transforming XML documents into other XML documents.

This specification defines the syntax and semantics of XSLT 2.0, a language for transforming XML documents into other XML documents.

XSLT 2.0 is a revised version of the XSLT 1.0 Recommendation [XSLT 1.0] published on 16 November 1999.

XSLT 2.0 is designed to be used in conjunction with XPath 2.0, which is defined in [XPath 2.0]. XSLT shares the same data model as XPath 2.0, which is defined in [Data Model], and it uses the library of functions and operators defined in [Functions and Operators].

XSLT 2.0 also includes optional facilities to serialize the results of a transformation, by means of an interface to the serialization component described in [XSLT and XQuery Serialization].

This document contains hyperlinks to specific sections or definitions within other documents in this family of specifications. These links are indicated visually by a superscript identifying the target specification: for example XP for XPath, DM for the XDM data model, FO for Functions and Operators.

This specification defines the syntax and semantics of XSLT, which is a language for transforming XML documents into other XML documents.

XSLT is designed for use as part of XSL, which is a stylesheet language for XML. In addition to XSLT, XSL includes an XML vocabulary for specifying formatting. XSL specifies the styling of an XML document by using XSLT to describe how the document is transformed into another XML document that uses the formatting vocabulary.

XSLT is also designed to be used independently of XSL. However, XSLT is not intended as a completely general-purpose XML transformation language. Rather it is designed primarily for the kinds of transformations that are needed when XSLT is used as part of XSL.