XML validation

XML validation is the process of checking a document written in XML (eXtensible Markup Language) to confirm that it is both well-formed and also "valid" in that it follows a defined structure. A well-formed document follows the basic syntactic rules of XML, which are the same for all XML documents. A valid document also respects the rules dictated by a particular DTD or XML schema, according to the application-specific choices for those particular .

In addition, extended tools are available such as OASIS CAM standard specification that provide contextual validation of content and structure that is more flexible than basic schema validations.

xmllint is a command line XML tool that can perform XML validation. It can be found in UNIX / Linux environments. An example with the use of this program for validation of a file called example.xml is

xmllint --valid --noout example.xml

The xmllint --stream option will reduce its memory footprint when validating very large files.

See also

Schematron, a method for advanced XML validation

External links

XML toolkit

• The XML C parser and toolkit of Gnome – libxml includes xmllint

Articles discussing XML validation

• DEVX March, 2009 - Taking XML Validation to the Next Level: Introducing CAM