How to make a for loop in xslt (not for-each)?

I found this way, that should work supposedly:

<xsl:for-each select="//*[position() &lt;= 5]">

</xsl:for-each>

But it only does the first step of the loop.

It seems this is not the "right" way to use XSLT after all:

"incrementing a counter
is a procedural programming solution, while XSLT is a functional language.
Sometimes you do have to resort to using recursion or an extension, but often
there is a way to achieve the results you want without resorting to using a
counter at all, let alone incrementing it. The most common problems are solved
using careful selection of nodes using the select attribute on an xsl:for-each
or xsl:apply-templates, and utilizing position() when processing those nodes."
Quoted from: http://www.xslt.com/html/xsl-list/2002-0...

This is the best way to do it (recursively):

<xsl:template name="for.loop">
<xsl:param name="i" />
<xsl:param name="count" />
<!--begin_: Line_by_Line_Output -->
<xsl:if test="$i &lt;= $count">
<br /> <b><xsl:value-of select="$i" />.</b>Hello world!
</xsl:if>

<!--begin_: RepeatTheLoopUntilFinished-->
<xsl:if test="$i &lt;= $count">
<xsl:call-template name="for.loop">
<xsl:with-param name="i">
<xsl:value-of select="$i + 1"/>
</xsl:with-param>
<xsl:with-param name="count">
<xsl:value-of select="$count"/>
</xsl:with-param>
</xsl:call-template>
</xsl:if>

</xsl:template>

<xsl:call-template name="for.loop">
<xsl:with-param name="i">1</xsl:with-param>
<xsl:with-param name="count">10</xsl:with-param>
</xsl:call-template>

XSL is based on a "transformation" model
The best way to follow the model is to make appear an element 5 times on the source xml

gotta close this one...
Xarcus, good comment there :)

use similar to this:

<xsl:for-each select="1 to xs:integer($srcNode/cellData[nodeId = $nodeId]/level - 1)">

where $srcNode/cellData[nodeId = $nodeId]/level - 1) returnes some valid integer