XSLT Sort of Loops shifted some below nodes up - xslt

Question

My XSLT logic is not working. Can we check why its not Sorting the S5_Loop is working but it moved L3 and SE sections above S5_Loop. Here is the XSL, I am using, its version 1.0. I can only use version 1.0. This is not right output, it should sort S5_Loop bit keep the remaining fields in same place.
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:output omit-xml-declaration="yes" indent="yes"/>
<xsl:template match="node()|#*">
<xsl:copy>
<xsl:apply-templates select="#*|node()"/>
</xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="/ST_Loop">
<xsl:copy>
<xsl:apply-templates>
<xsl:sort data-type="number" select="S5/S501"/>
</xsl:apply-templates>
</xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
XML Input
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<ST_Loop>
<N1_Loop>
<N1>
<N101>CN</N101>
<N102 GROUP 03</N102>
</N1>
<N3>
<N301></N301>
</N3>
<N4>
<N401>S</N401>
<N403>-1300</N403>
<N404>US</N404>
</N4>
<G61>
<G6101>CN</G6101>
<G6102> </G6102>
<G6103>TE</G6103>
<G6104>781-596-0345</G6104>
</G61>
</N1_Loop>
<S5_Loop>
<S5>
<S501>1</S501>
<S502>LD</S502>
</S5>
<G62>
<G6202>200929</G6202>
<G6204>010000</G6204>
</G62>
<N1_Loop>
<N1>
<N101>ford</N101>
</N1>
<N3>
<N301>St</N301>
</N3>
<N4>
<N401>ster</N401>
<N403>-1656</N403>
<N404>US</N404>
</N4>
</N1_Loop>
<OID_Loop/>
</S5_Loop>
<S5_Loop>
<S5>
<S501>3</S501>
<S502>LD</S502>
</S5>
<G62/>
<N1_Loop>
<N1>
<N101>LLC</N101>
</N1>
<N3>
<N301>Great Rd</N301>
</N3>
<N4>
<N401>Qiddlesex</N401>
<N403>-2802</N403>
<N404>US</N404>
</N4>
</N1_Loop>
<OID_Loop/>
</S5_Loop>
<S5_Loop>
<S5>
<S501>5</S501>
<S502>LD</S502>
</S5>
<G62/>
<N1_Loop>
<N1>
<N101></N101>
</N1>
<N3>
<N301>St</N301>
</N3>
<N4>
<N401>Rssex</N401>
<N403>-3308</N403>
<N404>US</N404>
</N4>
</N1_Loop>
<OID_Loop/>
</S5_Loop>
<S5_Loop>
<S5>
<S501>2</S501>
<S502>UL</S502>
</S5>
<G62>
<G6202>2021929</G6202>
<G6204>040000</G6204>
</G62>
<LAD/>
<N1_Loop>
<N1>
<N101>ST</N101>
<N102></N102>
</N1>
<N3>
<N301>297 Rd</N301>
</N3>
<N4>
<N401>Bedfd</N401>
<N402>MA</N402>
<N403>-2802</N403>
<N404>US</N404>
</N4>
</N1_Loop>
</S5_Loop>
<S5_Loop>
<S5>
<S501>4</S501>
<S502>UL</S502>
</S5>
<G62>
<G6202>2021029</G6202>
<G6204>040000</G6204>
</G62>
<LAD/>
<N1_Loop>
<N1>
<N101>ST</N101>
<N102> & , INC. 02</N102>
</N1>
<N3>
<N301>13 Ell St</N301>
</N3>
<N4>
<N401>Beer</N401>
<N402>MA</N402>
<N403>-3308</N403>
<N404>US</N404>
</N4>
</N1_Loop>
</S5_Loop>
<S5_Loop>
<S5>
<S501>6</S501>
<S502>UL</S502>
</S5>
<G62>
<G6202></G6202>
<G6204>040000</G6204>
</G62>
<LAD/>
<N1_Loop>
<N1>
<N101>ST</N101>
<N102></N102>
</N1>
<N3>
<N301>450 Rd</N301>
</N3>
<N4>
<N401></N401>
<N402>MA</N402>
<N403></N403>
<N404>US</N404>
</N4>
</N1_Loop>
</S5_Loop>
<L3>
<L301>KGM</L301>
<L302>G</L302>
</L3>
<SE>
<SE01>1</SE01>
<SE02></SE02>
</SE>
</ST_Loop>
Output
<ST_Loop>
<N1_Loop>
<N1>
<N101>CN</N101>
<N102></N102>
</N1>
<N3>
<N301>450 Rd</N301>
</N3>
<N4>
<N401></N401>
<N403>-1300</N403>
<N404>US</N404>
</N4>
<G61>
<G6101>CN</G6101>
<G6102> </G6102>
<G6103>TE</G6103>
<G6104></G6104>
</G61>
</N1_Loop>
<L3>
<L301>KGM</L301>
<L302>G</L302>
</L3>
<SE>
<SE01>1</SE01>
<SE02></SE02>
</SE>
<S5_Loop>
<S5>
<S501>1</S501>
<S502>LD</S502>
</S5>
<G62>
<G6202>200929</G6202>
<G6204>010000</G6204>
</G62>
<N1_Loop>
<N1>
<N101></N101>
</N1>
<N3>
<N301></N301>
</N3>
<N4>
<N401></N401>
<N403>-1656</N403>
<N404>US</N404>
</N4>
</N1_Loop>
<OID_Loop/>
</S5_Loop>
<S5_Loop>
<S5>
<S501>2</S501>
<S502>UL</S502>
</S5>
<G62>
<G6202></G6202>
<G6204>040000</G6204>
</G62>
<LAD/>
<N1_Loop>
<N1>
<N101>ST</N101>
<N102></N102>
</N1>
<N3>
<N301>297 Rd</N301>
</N3>
<N4>
<N401></N401>
<N402>MA</N402>
<N403>-2802</N403>
<N404>US</N404>
</N4>
</N1_Loop>
</S5_Loop>
<S5_Loop>
<S5>
<S501>3</S501>
<S502>LD</S502>
</S5>
<G62/>
<N1_Loop>
<N1>
<N101></N101>
</N1>
<N3>
<N301>Rd</N301>
</N3>
<N4>
<N401></N401>
<N403>-2802</N403>
<N404>US</N404>
</N4>
</N1_Loop>
<OID_Loop/>
</S5_Loop>
<S5_Loop>
<S5>
<S501>4</S501>
<S502>UL</S502>
</S5>
<G62>
<G6202>20210929</G6202>
<G6204>040000</G6204>
</G62>
<LAD/>
<N1_Loop>
<N1>
<N101>ST</N101>
<N102></N102>
</N1>
<N3>
<N301>St</N301>
</N3>
<N4>
<N401></N401>
<N402>MA</N402>
<N403>-3308</N403>
<N404>US</N404>
</N4>
</N1_Loop>
</S5_Loop>
<S5_Loop>
<S5>
<S501>5</S501>
<S502>LD</S502>
</S5>
<G62/>
<N1_Loop>
<N1>
<N101></N101>
</N1>
<N3>
<N301>t</N301>
</N3>
<N4>
<N401>Rssex</N401>
<N403>-3308</N403>
<N404>US</N404>
</N4>
</N1_Loop>
<OID_Loop/>
</S5_Loop>
<S5_Loop>
<S5>
<S501>6</S501>
<S502>UL</S502>
</S5>
<G62>
<G6202></G6202>
<G6204>040000</G6204>
</G62>
<LAD/>
<N1_Loop>
<N1>
<N101>ST</N101>
<N102></N102>
</N1>
<N3>
<N301> Rd</N301>
</N3>
<N4>
<N401></N401>
<N402>MA</N402>
<N403>-1300</N403>
<N404>US</N404>
</N4>
</N1_Loop>
</S5_Loop>
</ST_Loop>

Answer 1

Currently, your stylesheet does not specify the specific parent to sort by underlying children. By specifying <xsl:apply-templates/> without a select path, you instruct processor to copy all children of current node and descendants. However, the sort nodes, S5/S501, only exists under <S5_Loop>. As a result, the other nodes without xpath returns empty and so sorts first by default ascending order. Try adding order="descending" and see <L3> and <SE> will be at the bottom!
To retain your original style, consider redesigning the <ST_Loop> template by re-applying the other nodes in their original placement using preceding-sibling and following-sibling and run sorting only on the S5_Loop nodes. Also, consider <xsl:strip-space> to remove redundant whitespace between nodes and normalize-space(.) on all text nodes to remove redundant whitespace inside text values.
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:output omit-xml-declaration="yes" indent="yes"/>
<xsl:strip-space elements="*"/>
<xsl:template match="node()|#*">
<xsl:copy>
<xsl:apply-templates select="#*|node()"/>
</xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="ST_Loop">
<xsl:copy>
<xsl:apply-templates select="S5_Loop/preceding-sibling::*[name()!='S5_Loop']"/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="S5_Loop">
<xsl:sort data-type="number" select="S5/S501"/>
</xsl:apply-templates>
<xsl:apply-templates select="S5_Loop/following-sibling::*[name()!='S5_Loop']"/>
</xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="text()">
<xsl:value-of select="normalize-space(.)"/>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>