declare namespace fun = 'have.more.fun'; declare function fun:closure($input as node()*, $result as node()*) as node()* { let $current := $input/preceding-sibling::bidder[position()=1 and number(increase) <= 10] let $new := $current except $result let $all := ($result,$new) return if(exists($new)) then ($new, fun:closure($new,$all)) else () }; doc()//bidder[number(increase) <= 10 and (preceding-sibling::bidder[position()=1 and number(increase) > 10] or fun:closure(.,())/preceding-sibling::bidder[position()=1 and number(increase) > 10])]