XPath(XML Path language)是一种处理XML文档段的语言。XSLT(Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations,可扩展样式表语言转换)使用XPath描述表达式和地址路径控制节点选取。XSLT可以将XML转换为各种格式，如HTML或其他格式。
下面用一个邮件合并程序来简要说明XPath的串函数。下面的XML文件中包含数据，XSLT文件中包含对邮件格式的定义。MSXML4.0对XML文档应用样式表，产生一个合并的邮件文本文档。
XML文件 Letter.xml
<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>
<Letter>

<Date>July 17, 2002</Date>

<To>
<FirstName>Vicky</FirstName>
<LastName>P</LastName>
<Sex>Male</Sex>
</To>

<Address>
<Line1>900 National Pkwy</Line1>
<Line2>Suite 105</Line2>
<City>Bellevue</City>
<State>WA</State>
<Zip>98007</Zip>
<Country>USA</Country>
</Address>

<Subject>ESTATE OF JOHN DOE / FILE NO. 12345.6789</Subject>

<Text>
Please pay the property taxes as soon as possible.
</Text>

<Sender>
<FirstName>John</FirstName>
<LastName>M</LastName>
<Title>Sr. Tax Consultant</Title>
</Sender>

</Letter>

XSLT样式表文档 Letter.xsl
<?xml version=\'1.0\' encoding=\"utf-8\"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version=\"1.0\"
xmlns:xsl=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform\">

<xsl:output method=\"text\" indent=\"yes\"/>

<xsl:variable name=\"NL\" select=\"\'&#xA;\'\" />
<xsl:variable name=\"Para\" select=\"concat($NL, $NL)\" />

<xsl:template match=\"/\">

<xsl:value-of select=\"//Date\" />
<xsl:value-of select=\"$Para\" />

To,
<xsl:value-of select=\"concat(//To/FirstName, \' \', //To/LastName)\" />
<xsl:value-of select=\"$NL\" />

<xsl:value-of select=\"//Address/Line1\" />
<xsl:value-of select=\"$NL\" />

<xsl:value-of select=\"//Address/Line2\" />
<xsl:value-of select=\"$NL\" />

<xsl:value-of select=\"concat(//Address/City, \' \', //Address/State, \' \', //Address/Zip)\" />
<xsl:value-of select=\"$NL\" />

<xsl:value-of select=\"//Address/Country\" />
<xsl:value-of select=\"$Para\" />

Regarding: <xsl:value-of select=\"//Subject\" />
<xsl:value-of select=\"$NL\" />

Dear <xsl:if test=\"starts-with(//Sex, \'M\')\">Mr. </xsl:if><xsl:if test=\"starts-with(//Sex, \'F\')\">Miss </xsl:if>
<xsl:value-of select=\"concat(//To/FirstName, \' \', //To/LastName)\" />,
<xsl:value-of select=\"$Para\" />

<xsl:value-of select=\"//Text\" />
<xsl:value-of select=\"$Para\" />
Sincerely,
<xsl:value-of select=\"$Para\" />
<xsl:value-of select=\"concat(//Sender/FirstName, \' \', //Sender/LastName)\" />
<xsl:value-of select=\"$NL\" />
<xsl:value-of select=\"//Sender/Title\" />
</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

上面的样式表举例说明了concat和starts-with XPath串函数和怎样在输出文本中增加新行，还有定义和使用变量。
下面是程序的执行结果。

1.VC6建立Win32控制台应用程序。
2.在stdafx.h中添加下面的代码：
#include <TCHAR.H>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>
#import \"msxml4.dll\"
// If this import statement fails, you need to install MSXML 4.0 SP1 from:
//http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/sample.asp?url=/MSDN-FILES/027/001/766/msdncompositedoc.xml

#include <msxml2.h>
// If this include statement fails, you need to install MSXML 4.0 SP1 SDK from:
//http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/sample.asp?url=/MSDN-FILES/027/001/766/msdncompositedoc.xml
// You also need to add the include file and library search path
// to Visual C++\'s list of directories (Tools > Options... > Directories).

using namespace MSXML2;

inline void EVAL_HR( HRESULT _hr )
{ if FAILED(_hr) throw(_hr); }
#define TEMP_SIZE _MAX_PATH // size of short buffer
static _TCHAR szTemp[TEMP_SIZE]; // multipurpose buffer on stack
static DWORD dwLen;

3.上面的代码引入MSXML4类型库，包含MSXML头文件，检查HRESULT值并声明了一些全局变量。
4.main函数：
int main(int argc, char* argv[])