number string-length (string?) [xpath]

Standard excerpt:

The string-length returns the number of characters in the string. If the argument is omitted, it defaults to the context node converted to a string, in other words the string-value of the context node.
Examples (xslt:xml): Overview
60:3 61:3

Interactive xlab: [string functions] [xpath] [xsl:value-of] [xsl:template]