File: Data.xml <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <data> <AAA id="a1" pos="start"> <BBB id="b1"/> <BBB id="b2"/> </AAA> <AAA id="a2"> <BBB id="b3"/> <BBB id="b4"/> <CCC id="c1"> <CCC id="c2"/> </CCC> <BBB id="b5"> <CCC id="c3"/> </BBB> </AAA> </data> File: Transform.xslt <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"> <xsl:template match="/"> <table border="1" cellpadding="6"> <tr> <th colspan="2">Axis: parent</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Element</th> <td>Node-set</th> </tr> <xsl:for-each select="/source//*"> <xsl:call-template name="print"/> </xsl:for-each> </table> </xsl:template> <xsl:template name="print"> <tr> <td> <xsl:value-of select="name()"/> <xsl:text> id = </xsl:text> <xsl:value-of select="./@id"/> </td> <td> <xsl:for-each select="parent::*"> <xsl:if test="not(@id)"> <xsl:value-of select="name()"/> </xsl:if> <xsl:value-of select="./@id"/> <xsl:text/> </xsl:for-each> </td> </tr> </xsl:template> </xsl:stylesheet> Output: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><table border="1" cellpadding="6"><tr><th colspan="2">Axis: parent</th></tr><tr><td>Element</th><td>Node-set</th></tr></table>