I have got lists with two types of list markers, namely numeric (1., 2., 3., etc.) and alphabetic "a)", "b)", "c)", etc. or "aa)", "bb)", "cc)", etc. I want to check whether each item of a list is numbered subsequently according to its list marker type.

This means in numeric lists a subsequent item should be numbered as n+1 plus a dot, where n is the number in the current item's term and n+1 would be the number in its parent::item/following-sibling::*[1]/self::item/term.

In alphabetic lists the parent::item/following-sibling::*[1]/self::item/term should contain the next letter(s) in alphabetical order from the current item/term plus a closing parenthesis. So for example after "b)" would follow "c)" and after "cc)" would follow "dd)".

I do not want to change the numbering, but just check and document the errors found and ideally their locations.

The input format would look like this:

<list>
  <item>
    <term>1.</term>
    <para>jhjhjh hjkjkjkj</para>
  </item>
  <item>
    <term>3.</term>
    <para>jhjhjh hjkjkjkj</para>
  </item>
  <item>
    <term>4.</term>
    <para>jhjhjh hjkjkjkj</para>
  </item>
</list>

Or:

<list>
  <item>
    <term>a)</term>
    <para>jhjhjh hjkjkjkj</para>
  </item>
  <item>
    <term>b)</term>
    <para>jhjhjh hjkjkjkj</para>
  </item>
  <item>
   <term>d)</term>
   <para>jhjhjh hjkjkjkj</para>
  </item>
</list>

Or:

<list>
  <item>
    <term>aa)</term>
    <para>jhjhjh hjkjkjkj</para>
  </item>
  <item>
    <term>cc)</term>
    <para>jhjhjh hjkjkjkj</para>
  </item>
  <item>
    <term>dd)</term>
    <para>jhjhjh hjkjkjkj</para>
  </item>
</list>

These input samples deliberately contain errors that should be detected and located.

Please note that in the samples I had to use <para> instead of <p>, but in the Perl script, it should be <p>-elements.

In reply to Check numbering of list items by LexPl

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