Editing XSLT (section)

==XQuery compared==
{{details|XQuery#XQuery and XSLT compared}}
XSLT functionalities overlap with those of [[XQuery]], which was initially conceived as a query language for large collections of XML documents.

The XSLT 2.0 and XQuery 1.0 standards were developed by separate working groups within [[W3C]], working together to ensure a common approach where appropriate. They share the same data model, type system, and function library, and both include [[XPath]] 2.0 as a sublanguage.

The two languages, however, are rooted in different traditions and serve the needs of different communities. XSLT was primarily conceived as a stylesheet language whose primary goal was to render XML for the human reader on screen, on [[the web]] (as a [[web template|web template language]]), or on paper. XQuery was primarily conceived as a [[database query language]] in the tradition of [[SQL]].

Because the two languages originate in different communities, XSLT is stronger in its handling
of narrative documents with more flexible structure, while XQuery is stronger in its data handling, for example when performing relational joins.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Saxonica: XSLT and XQuery |url=https://www.saxonica.com/technology/xslt-and-xquery.xml |access-date=2022-06-29 |website=www.saxonica.com}}</ref>