XML File Documentation
A file with the XML extension, i.e. Extensible Markup Language, contains structured text files and other data.
The XML format is similar to the HTML extension, but one difference is that the XML format uses custom tags to specify objects and content. Another important difference is that the HTML format is intended only for presenting data, while the XML format also allows their editing.
The XML format was created by the W3C and is also a sublanguage of SGML.
Overview
Feature | Value | Description |
---|---|---|
File Extension | .xml | The standard file extension for XML files. |
MIME Type | application/xml, text/xml | Standard MIME types used for XML files. |
File Type | Text-based | XML is a text-based format, making it human-readable and editable with text editors. |
Developed By | W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) | The organization responsible for maintaining the XML standard. |
Initial Release | 1998 | The year XML was initially released. |
Encoding | UTF-8, UTF-16, ISO-8859-1 | Common character encodings supported by XML. |
Root Element | Required | Every XML file must have a single root element that contains all other elements. |
Namespaces | Supported | XML supports namespaces to avoid element name conflicts. |
Schema Validation | XSD, DTD | XML supports schema validation through XML Schema Definition (XSD) and Document Type Definition (DTD). |
Metadata Support | Yes | XML allows for the inclusion of metadata within the document. |
Custom Tags | Yes | XML allows for the creation of custom tags for more flexible data representation. |
Security Risks | XXE Attacks, XML Bomb | XML is susceptible to certain security risks like XML External Entity (XXE) attacks and XML Bomb attacks. |
Advanced Features | XPath, XQuery, XSLT | XML supports advanced querying and transformation features like XPath, XQuery, and XSLT. |
Compression | Can be compressed with tools like gzip | XML files can be compressed to save storage space and speed up data transmission. |
Localization | Supported via xml:lang attribute | XML supports localization through the use of the xml:lang attribute. |
Streaming Parsing | Supported (e.g., SAX) | XML supports streaming parsing methods like Simple API for XML (SAX) for efficient memory usage. |
Comments | Supported | XML allows for comments, making it easier to annotate your code for better readability and maintenance. |
CDATA Sections | Supported | XML supports CDATA sections for including text that should not be parsed by the XML parser. |
Element Ordering | Significant | In XML, the order of elements can be significant, depending on how the XML is used. |
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