Method and system for stylesheet rule creation, combination, and removal

A method (and system) for editing rules contained in a first document, where the rules define a transformation of data on a second document and where the first document and second document have elements constructed in a tree structure having nodes, each rule having a template structure including at least one match condition, the match condition being an expression in the template that describes a subset of tree nodes, includes selecting at least one rule in the first document and checking a match condition of the user-selected rule with the tree nodes from the second document to determine which structures in the second document match the selected rule.