In order to be able to use attributes on xml-nodes freely, the following situations can arise: The foregroundcolor parameter gets a value: <node color="red"> correctly sets ..[foregroundcolor=\xmlatt{#1}{color}] color to red. However, in the next case the current foregroundcolor should be left as is, but reverts to black: <node> ..[foregroundcolor=] and is apparently reset to the general default. trying the following seemed the solution, but it does not work: ..[\doifnot{\xmlatt{#1}{color}}{\empty}{foregroundcolor=\xmlatt{#1}{color}}] giving in the log: {foregroundcolor=orange}' in line 16 (249>:) check > missing or ungrouped '=' after '\doifnot {}{} Putting the above \doif inside an \expanded{} does not alter the behaviour. How to accomplish leaving the parameter as is for an absent attribute? Hans van der Meer