i need to know if the parent of the current node is the second node in the set. does anyone know the correct xpath expression for this problem?
thanks

By "the second node in the set", you presumably mean "the second child of its parent"? (there are many sets, you need to say which one).

Try

  test="count(../preceding-sibling::node()) = 1"

if you really mean "node", or

  test="count(../preceding-sibling::*) = 1"

if you meant "element".



Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/
Author, XSLT Programmer's Reference and XPath 2.0 Programmer's Reference