# File rexml/quickpath.rb, line 160
  def QuickPath::predicate( elements, path ) 
			ind = 1
			bcount = 1
			while bcount > 0
				bcount += 1 if path[ind] == ?[
				bcount -= 1 if path[ind] == ?]
				ind += 1
			end
			ind -= 1
			predicate = path[1..ind-1]
			rest = path[ind+1..-1]

			# have to change 'a [=<>] b [=<>] c' into 'a [=<>] b and b [=<>] c'
			predicate.gsub!( /([^\s(and)(or)<>=]+)\s*([<>=])\s*([^\s(and)(or)<>=]+)\s*([<>=])\s*([^\s(and)(or)<>=]+)/u ) { 
				"#$1 #$2 #$3 and #$3 #$4 #$5"
			}
			# Let's do some Ruby trickery to avoid some work:
			predicate.gsub!( /&/u, "&&" )
			predicate.gsub!( /=/u, "==" )
			predicate.gsub!( /@(\w[-\w.]*)/u ) {
				"attribute(\"#$1\")" 
			}
			predicate.gsub!( /\bmod\b/u, "%" )
			predicate.gsub!( /\b(\w[-\w.]*\()/u ) {
				fname = $1
				fname.gsub( /-/u, "_" )
			}
			
			Functions.pair = [ 0, elements.size ]
			results = []
			elements.each do |element|
				Functions.pair[0] += 1
				Functions.node = element
				res = eval( predicate )
				case res
				when true
					results << element
				when Fixnum
					results << element if Functions.pair[0] == res
				when String
					results << element
				end
			end
			return filter( results, rest )
		end