I'm using PHP, so I don't think I can use XSLT 2.0 (please, someone correct me if I'm wrong!). What I'm trying to do is this: display each <person> ( along with their associated <year> or any other related information) with a <surname> that starts with the letter A, B, or C. I know how to sort all <person> elements by surname, but is there a way, using XSLT 1.0, to display only those beginning with a certain letter? And if there is more than one person with the same surname, I'd like to be able to sort by forename as well.

Here's a (simplified) sample of my XML:

<faculty>
  <person id="1">
    <surname>Jones</surname>
    <forename>Bill</forename>
    <year>1985</year>
  </person>
  <person id="2">
    <surname>Adams</surname>
    <forename>Lucy</forename>
    <year>2004</year>
  </person>
  <person id="3">
    <surname>Adams</surname>
    <forename>Joe</forename>
    <year>1997</year>
  </person>
  <person id="4">
    <surname>Smith</surname>
    <forename>Edward</forename>
    <year>1970</year>
  </person>
  <person id="5">
    <surname>Collins</surname>
    <forename>Steve</forename>
    <year>2001</year>
  </person>
</faculty>

I figured it out. I wasn't aware of the "starts-with()" function.