How to Use This Reference
Annotated Sample Documents
XML Syntax
Constraints
XML Document Grammar
This chapter is intended to serve as a comprehensive reference to the Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 W3C recommendation (Second Edition), dated 6 October 2000. We have made every effort to cover the contents of the official W3C document exhaustively. However, if you are implementing an XML parser, editor, or other tool, you should also review the latest revision of the recommendation on the Web at http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml.
This chapter consists of examples of XML documents and DTDs, followed by detailed reference sections that describe every feature of the 1.0 specification and a listing of possible well-formedness and validity errors. The syntax elements of a valid XML document are introduced in the rough order in which they appear in an XML document. Each entry explains the syntactic structure, where it can be used, and the applicable validity and well-formedness constraints. Each reference section contains a description of the XML language structure, an informal syntax, and an example of the syntax's usage where appropriate.
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