can an xslt template carry both name and match attributes?

Question

Is the following (a) allowed (b) useful

<xsl:template match="foo" name="bar"> 
</xsl:template>

(it means that the template could be triggered either from recursive template processing or directly from <xsl:call-template name="bar"/>

Answer 1

Simply put, yes. I quite often name the identity template and invoke it directly using a <xsl:call-template name="identity" />.

It's a useful tool for a form of inheritance; you can define a template to match one node, and another that handles a derivative of that node that does the specifics, then calls the more general template.

For example:

<xsl:template match="animal" name="animal">
  <!-- handle any animal related stuff here -->
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="dog">
  <xsl:call-template name="animal" />
  <!-- handle any dog specific stuff here -->
</xsl:template>