any

pattern

Syntax
any 


Purpose

Can be used in a pattern to match all possible characters or can be used in an element content-type test.

When used in pattern matching, any can be used with any of the pattern repetition and optionality modifiers:

  • any+ -- any character must occur at least once, and may occur several times
  • any* -- any character can occur several times, or not at all
  • any? -- any character may occur once, or may be omitted
  • any** -- any character can occur zero or more times up to the following pattern
  • any++ -- any character can occur one or more times up to the following pattern

As an element test, any is used specifically in a content is test. Briefly, the test succeeds if the stated element is declared of type any.