dictionary.xml - A Simple XML Sample File

XML Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples

∟dictionary.xml - A Simple XML Sample File

This section provides a tutorial example of a simple XML sample file with two repeating elements in the root element.

Here is a simple XML sample file that represents a glossary with only two words defined:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!-- dictionary.xml
 - Copyright (c) 1999-2002 HerongYang.com. All Rights Reserved.
-->
<dictionary>
 <word acronym="true">
  <name>XML</name>
  <definition reference="Herong&apos;s Notes">eXtensible Markup
Language.</definition>
  <update date="2002-12-23"/>
 </word>
 <word symbol="true">
  <name>&lt;/name>
  <definition>Mathematical symbol representing the "less than" logical
operation, like: 1&lt;2.</definition>
  <definition>Reserved symbol in XML to representing the beginning of
tags, like: <![CDATA[<p>Hello world!</p>]]>
  </definition>
 </word>
</dictionary>

Note that:

A multiple-line comment is used to show the copyright information.
"dictionary" is the root element.
Attributes are used in elements: "word", "definition" and "update".
"update" is an empty element with no content.
"word" is a nested element, and repeated twice.
Entity "'" is used in attribute "reference".
Entity "<" is used in contents of elements "name" and "definition".
CDATA section is used in the second "definition" of the second "word", in which "<p>" and "</p>" will not be considered as XML tags any more.

Since XML file don't care about how the tags should be named and what information they should be carrying, we can re-organize the same information in many ways. For example:

We could move the information from the "date" attribute of "update" element into the content, and rewrite the "update" like: <update>2002-12-23</update>
We could also move content into an attribute, like: <name is_acronym="true" value="XML"/>