Creating Logical Expressions

A logical expression uses logical operators and is a compound expression. Unless there's an error, its value is always either true or false . Here are the logical operators:

• and Performs a logical and operation

• or Performs a logical or operation

The and operator lets you connect two Boolean operands and returns true if both operands are true, and false otherwise . The or operator lets you connect two logical operands and returns true if either operand is true, and false otherwise.

Here's an example. Say that $temperature holds a value of 72; in that case, this example returns a value of true :

 $temperature < 80 and $temperature > 60 

And this expression also returns true , because one logical operand ( $temperature > 60 ) is true:

 $temperature > 80 or $temperature > 60 

THE not FUNCTION

XPath 2.0 also has a function named not() , which reverses the Boolean value of the value you pass to it. For example, if $temperature holds a value of 72, then $temperature = 72 is true, and not($temperature = 72) is false. More on this function is coming up in Chapter 11, "XPath 2.0 Boolean, QName, and Date Functions."

This expression returns false :

 $temperature > 80 and $temperature > 60