get node by position without using a loop

is there anyway in xslt to get a node from a list directly without using a for-each loop:

tried this but it didnt seem to work:

 <xsl:variable name="currentNode" select="$currentPage/ * [position() = 4]" />

any help will be appreciated.

just to add to this:

<xsl:template name="checkmonth">
      <xsl:param name="stringOfMonths" />
      <xsl:param name="n" />
      <xsl:param name="currentCount" />

      <!--get node in list -->

      <xsl:variable name="currentNode" select="$currentPage/ * [position() = $currentCount]" />
      <xsl:variable name="dateOfNode" select="$currentNode" />


      <xsl:choose>
      <xsl:when test="not(contains($stringOfMonths,dateOfNode/@crea开发者_StackOverflow社区teDate))">
        <xsl:value-of select="$dateOfNode/@createDate" />
      <xsl:if test="$currentCount &lt; $n">
          <xsl:call-template name="checkmonth">
          <xsl:with-param name="stringOfMonths" select="concat($stringOfMonths," ",$dateOfNode/@createDate />
          <xsl:with-param name="n" select="$n" />
          <xsl:with-param name="currentCount" select="$currentCount + 1" />
        </xsl:call-template>
      </xsl:if>
      </xsl:when>
      <xsl:otherwise>
      <xsl:if test="$currentCount &lt; $n">
         <xsl:call-template name="checkmonth">
          <xsl:with-param name="stringOfMonths" select="$stringOfMonths" />
          <xsl:with-param name="n" select="$n" />
          <xsl:with-param name="currentCount" select="$currentCount + 1" />
        </xsl:call-template>
      </xsl:if>
      </xsl:otherwise>
      </xsl:choose>
</xsl:template>

i have a list of nodes created on different dates, i want to generate a list of just the months these nodes were created. 'n' is the total number of nodes in the list

Your line:

<xsl:variable name="currentNode" select="$currentPage/*[position() = $currentCount]" />

is fine. You should ask (and check yourself) if $currentPage/* contains a node at position $currentCount.

Moreover, you are writing "tried this but it didnt seem to work:". How did you check the variable value? Inside your template you are just defining the variable and there is no instruction to display its value. Can you try with:

<xsl:copy-of select="$currentNode"/>

or

<xsl:value-of select="$currentNode"/>

Still "tried this but it didnt seem to work:", it's just a "maybe" or the transformation is throwing you an error? Which kind of error?