About XML

<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="keywords" content="about xml, xml tutorial, extensible markup language, learn xml"> <meta name="Description" content="Free XML tutorial - learn about XML and how to use it."> <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.quackit.com/xml/tutorial/about_xml.cfm"> <title>About XML</title> <script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/pix/favicon96.png"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/pix/apple-touch-icon.png"> <link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com"> <link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.gstatic.com" crossorigin> <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Lato:ital,wght@0,400;0,700;1,400&display=swap" rel="stylesheet"> <link href="/common/css/master.45.min.css" rel="stylesheet"> <script async src="https://cdn.fuseplatform.net/publift/tags/2/3499/fuse.js"></script>  <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-Q3H025ZKLN"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-Q3H025ZKLN'); </script> </head> <body> <header class="site-header"> <div class="site-header-base"> <div class="site-logo"> <a title="Quackit Homepage" target="_top" href="/"><img src="/pix/quackit_logo_watermark.png" width="87" height="33" alt="Quackit Logo"></a> </div> <button id="site-nav-toggler" class="site-nav-toggler" aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="site-nav"> <span class="sr-only">Toggle navigation</span> ☰ </button> </div> <nav id="site-nav" class="site-nav"> <div class="site-links"> <ul> <li><a href="/"><i class="fa fa-home"></i> <span class="sr-only">Home</span></a></li> <li><a href="/html/">HTML</a></li> <li><a href="/css/">CSS</a></li> <li><a href="/scripting/">Scripting</a></li> <li><a href="/database/">Database</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="site-search-top"> <form action="/search/" id="cse-search-box-bottom" class="site-search"> <div> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="partner-pub-6331358926293806:98x0fk-bbgi"> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:10"> <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1"> <input type="text" name="q" size="20" class="site-search-input"> <button type="submit" name="sa" class="site-search-button"><i class="fa fa-search"></i></button> </div> </form> </div> </nav> </header> <div class="main"> <article class="content"> <h1 class="page-title">About XML</h1> <div class="ad ad-top">  <div data-fuse="23059883623"></div> </div> <ul class="pager"> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/"><i class="fa fa-long-arrow-left" aria-hidden="true"></i> Tutorial Home</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xml_viewers.cfm">XML Viewers <i class="fa fa-long-arrow-right" aria-hidden="true"></i></a></li> </ul> <p class="lead">XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language. As the name suggests, XML is a markup language. The XML specification was created by the World Wide Web Consortium (<a href="http://www.w3c.org">W3C</a>), the body that sets standards for the web.</p> <div class="ad">  <div data-fuse="23059883629"></div> </div> <h2>Features/Benefits of XML</h2> <p>XML has been widely adopted since its creation and with good reason. Some of the key features and benefits of XML include:</p> <ul> <li>Easy data exchange - One of the great things about XML is that it can allow easy sharing of data between different applications - even if these applications are written in different languages and reside on different platforms. </li> <li>Self-describing data - When you look at an XML document, it is very easy to figure out what's going on.</li> <li>Create your own languages - XML allows you to specify your own markup language for your own specific purpose. Some existing XML based languages include Banking Industry Technology Secretariat (BITS), Bank Internet Payment System (BIPS), Financial Exchange (IFX) and many more.</li> </ul> <h2>What Does XML Look Like?</h2> <p>The following example demonstrates what the contents of a typical XML document could look like. </p> <script src="/common/js/codemirror/lib/codemirror.js"></script> <script src="/common/js/codemirror/mode/htmlmixed/htmlmixed.js"></script> <script src="/common/js/codemirror/mode/css/css.js"></script> <script src="/common/js/codemirror/mode/javascript/javascript.js"></script> <script src="/common/js/codemirror/mode/xml/xml.js"></script> <div class="code-only"> <textarea id="example1" autocomplete="off" spellcheck="false"><?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<tutorials>
 <tutorial>
 <name>XML Tutorial</name>
 <url>https://www.quackit.com/xml/tutorial</url>
 </tutorial>
 <tutorial>
 <name>HTML Tutorial</name>
 <url>https://www.quackit.com/html/tutorial</url>
 </tutorial>
</tutorials></textarea> </div> <script> var exampleCode1 = CodeMirror.fromTextArea(document.getElementById("example1"), { mode: "htmlmixed", tabMode: "indent", styleActiveLine: false, lineNumbers: false, lineWrapping: true, theme: "q-dark" }); </script> <p>I'll be explaining what this is all about in the coming lessons.</p> <h2>Difference Between XML and HTML</h2> <p>If you're familiar with <a href="/html/">HTML</a>, you might notice that XML looks similar to HTML. Like XML, HTML is also a markup language. In fact, HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language. Markup languages are used for describing how a document's contents should be interpreted. </p> <h3>HTML</h3> <p>HTML includes over <a href="/html/tags/">100 pre-defined tags</a> to allow the author to specify how each piece of content should be presented to the end user. For example, if you surround some content with <a href="/html_5/tags/html_b_tag.cfm"><code><b></b></code></a> tags, the user agent/browser will render that content using a bold typeface. </p> <h3>XML</h3> <p>XML allows you to create your own tags to describe the data between them. You're not particularly interested in how the data will be presented. Your main focus is ensuring that the data is well organised within descriptive tags (or elements). This is because XML is primarily used for data storage and transfer purposes - not for presentation purposes.</p> <ul class="pager"> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/"><i class="fa fa-long-arrow-left" aria-hidden="true"></i> Tutorial Home</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xml_viewers.cfm">XML Viewers <i class="fa fa-long-arrow-right" aria-hidden="true"></i></a></li> </ul> </article> <div class="sidebar"> <nav> <ul> <li> <h3><a href="/xml/tutorial/" title="">XML Tutorial</a></h3> <ul> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/about_xml.cfm" title="">About XML</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xml_viewers.cfm" title="">XML Viewers</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xml_editors.cfm" title="">XML Editors</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xml_documents.cfm" title="">XML Documents</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xml_syntax.cfm" title="">XML Syntax</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xml_elements.cfm" title="">XML Elements</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xml_attributes.cfm" title="">XML Attributes</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xml_css.cfm" title="">XML with CSS</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xml_xsl.cfm" title="">XML with XSL</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xml_namespace.cfm" title="">XML Namespace</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xml_local_namespace.cfm" title="">XML Local Namespace</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xml_default_namespace.cfm" title="">XML Default Namespace</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xml_entities.cfm" title="">XML Entities</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xml_creating_entities.cfm" title="">XML Creating Entities</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xml_cdata.cfm" title="">XML CDATA</a></li> </ul> </li> <li> <h3 class="heading-only">DTD</h3> <ul> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/dtd_introduction.cfm" title="">DTD Introduction</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/dtd_doctype.cfm" title="">DTD DOCTYPE</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/dtd_internal_dtd.cfm" title="">DTD Internal</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/dtd_external_dtd.cfm" title="">DTD External</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/dtd_combined_dtd.cfm" title="">DTD Combined</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/dtd_fpi.cfm" title="">DTD FPI</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/dtd_elements.cfm" title="">DTD Elements</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/dtd_element_operators.cfm" title="">DTD Element Operators</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/dtd_attributes.cfm" title="">DTD Attributes</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/dtd_attribute_default_values.cfm" title="">DTD Attribute Default Values</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/dtd_attribute_types.cfm" title="">DTD Attribute Types</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/dtd_general_entities.cfm" title="">DTD General Entities</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/dtd_parameter_entities.cfm" title="">DTD Parameter Entities</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/dtd_embedded_images.cfm" title="">DTD Embedded Images</a></li> </ul> </li> <li> <h3 class="heading-only">XSLT</h3> <ul> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xslt_introduction.cfm" title="">XSLT Introduction</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xslt_example.cfm" title="">XSLT Example</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xslt_syntax.cfm" title="">XSLT Syntax</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xslt_template.cfm" title="">XSLT <template></a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xslt_apply-templates.cfm" title="">XSLT <apply-templates></a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xslt_value-of.cfm" title="">XSLT <value-of></a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xslt_for-each.cfm" title="">XSLT <for-each></a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xslt_sort.cfm" title="">XSLT <sort></a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xslt_if.cfm" title="">XSLT <if></a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xslt_choose.cfm" title="">XSLT <choose></a></li> </ul> </li> <li> <h3 class="heading-only">XPath</h3> <ul> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xpath_introduction.cfm" title="">XPath Introduction</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xpath_location_path.cfm" title="">XPath Location Path</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xpath_location_path_absolute.cfm" title="">XPath Location Path - Absolute</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xpath_location_path_relative.cfm" title="">XPath Location Path - Relative</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xpath_attributes.cfm" title="">XPath Attributes</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xpath_axis.cfm" title="">XPath Axis</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xpath_node_test.cfm" title="">XPath Node Test</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xpath_predicate.cfm" title="">XPath Predicate</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xpath_node_set.cfm" title="">XPath Node Set</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xpath_comparison_operators.cfm" title="">XPath Comparison Operators</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xpath_boolean_operators.cfm" title="">XPath Boolean Operators</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xpath_number_operators.cfm" title="">XPath Number Operators</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xpath_string_functions.cfm" title="">XPath String Functions</a></li> <li><a href="/xml/tutorial/xml_tutorial_summary.cfm" title="">Tutorial Summary</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </nav> <div class="ad ad-left">  <div data-fuse="23059511712"></div> </div> </div> <div class="ads"> <div class="ad ad-right">  <div data-fuse="23059883626"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="searchbox-bottom"> <form action="/search/" id="cse-search-box-bottom" class="site-search"> <div> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="partner-pub-6331358926293806:npmuvy-i8kk"> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:10"> <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1"> <input type="text" name="q" size="30" class="site-search-input"> <button type="submit" name="sa" class="site-search-button"><i class="fa fa-search"></i></button> </div> </form> <script src="//cse.google.com/cse/brand?form=cse-search-box-bottom&lang=en"></script> </div> <footer> <p class="about"><a href="/"><i class="fa fa-home"></i> Home</a> | <a href="/about.cfm" rel="nofollow">About</a> | <a href="/contact.cfm" rel="nofollow">Contact</a> | <a href="/terms_of_use.cfm" rel="nofollow">Terms of Use</a> | <a href="/privacy_policy.cfm" rel="nofollow">Privacy Policy</a></p> <p>© Copyright 2000 - 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About XML