# 22. Virtuoso Functions Guide - generate-id

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Functions Index

## generate-id

Returns a string that uniquely identifies the node.
string generate-id ( place node_set);
Description

The function returns a string that uniquely identifies the first node in the place argument node-set. The unique identifier will consist of ASCII alphanumeric characters and will start with an alphabetic character. Thus, the string is syntactically an XML name. It always generates the same identifier for the same node. It always generates different identifiers from different nodes. This function is under no obligation to generate the same identifiers each time a document is transformed. There is no guarantee that a generated unique identifier will be distinct from any unique IDs specified in the source document.

If the argument node-set is empty, the empty string is returned.

If the argument is omitted, it defaults to the context node.

Parameters
place – Node-set whose first node is used as a key to generate a resulting ID
Return Types

String which is syntactically an XML name.

Examples

    generate_id(.)