.. _string:

======
string
====== 

Converts a value or a node to string

Description
~~~~~~~~~~~
The fn:string function converts a value or a node to a string. If $arg is a 
node, this function returns its string value. The method of determining the 
string value of a node depends on its kind. For an element node, it is the 
character data content of the element and all of its descendants concatenated 
together. For an attribute node, it is simply the value of the attribute as a 
string. If $arg is an atomic value, the function returns that value, cast to 
xs:string.

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   * - **Parameters**
     - **Description**
   * - arg:string()
     - 

Examples
~~~~~~~~
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   * - **XPath**
     - **Results**
   * - string($in-xml-2/number)
     - 784
   * - string($in-xml-2/desc)
     - Our favorite shirt!
   * - string($in-xml-2/@dept)
     - MEN