ZenovayTools

XML Formatter & Validator

Format, beautify, and validate XML documents. Pretty-print with customizable indentation, minify XML, and highlight syntax errors with line numbers.

Error: DOMParser is not defined

17 lines · 459 chars

Indent:

How to Use XML Formatter & Validator

  1. 1Paste your XML into the input field.
  2. 2Click Format to pretty-print with proper indentation.
  3. 3Any syntax errors will be highlighted with the line number.
  4. 4Use Minify to compress XML by removing whitespace.
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Frequently Asked Questions

What is XML?▾
XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a text-based format for storing and transporting structured data. Unlike HTML, XML tags are not predefined — you define your own. XML is used for: configuration files (Maven pom.xml, Spring, Android layouts), data exchange (SOAP web services, RSS/Atom feeds, OpenDocument), office formats (DOCX, XLSX are ZIP archives containing XML), SVG vector graphics, and XHTML. XML is strictly case-sensitive and requires proper nesting and closing tags.
What is the difference between XML and HTML?▾
XML is for data storage/transport; HTML is for presentation. XML tags are user-defined; HTML tags are predefined. XML is case-sensitive (<Tag> ≠ <tag>); HTML is case-insensitive. XML requires every element to be closed (<br/> not <br>); HTML allows optional closing. XML requires proper nesting; HTML is forgiving. XML documents must be well-formed (parse without errors); HTML browsers can render malformed HTML. XHTML combines both: it's HTML using XML rules.
What makes XML valid vs well-formed?▾
Well-formed XML must: start with <?xml version="1.0"?> declaration (optional but recommended), have exactly one root element, properly nest all elements (no crossing tags), close all elements, quote all attribute values, escape special characters (<, >, &, ", '), and have unique attribute names per element. Valid XML additionally conforms to a schema (DTD or XSD) that defines allowed elements, attributes, and data types. Most XML parsers require well-formed XML; validity is optional.
How do I escape special characters in XML?▾
XML defines 5 predefined entities: &lt; for <, &gt; for >, &amp; for &, &quot; for " (in attributes), &apos; for ' (in attributes). Any text content containing < or & must use these escapes. For other special characters: use numeric character references &#65; (decimal) or &#x41; (hex) for A. CDATA sections bypass escaping: <![CDATA[content with <tags> & symbols]]>. The CDATA content is treated as plain text, not markup.
What is the difference between XML namespaces and schemas?▾
Namespaces prevent element name conflicts when combining XML from different vocabularies. Syntax: xmlns:prefix="URI". Example: <soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">. The URI is just an identifier, not a URL to fetch. XSD (XML Schema Definition) is the standard way to define and validate XML structure: allowed elements, data types, constraints, cardinality. DTD (Document Type Definition) is older, less powerful. RELAX NG is another schema language.