XML Formatter & Validator

What is an XML Formatter?

An XML formatter is a tool that beautifies and validates Extensible Markup Language (XML) data. It transforms minified or poorly formatted XML into a clean, readable structure with proper indentation and line breaks. XML formatters are essential for developers working with web services, configuration files, data interchange, and document processing.

Common Use Cases for XML Formatting

• API Development: Format SOAP and REST API responses for debugging
• Configuration Files: Beautify XML config files for Spring, Maven, Ant, and other frameworks
• RSS/Atom Feeds: Format and validate RSS and Atom feed documents
• Web Services: Debug WSDL, SOAP envelopes, and web service responses
• Data Exchange: Format XML data for EDI, HL7, and other data interchange formats
• Document Processing: Work with SVG, XHTML, DocBook, and other XML-based documents
• Android Development: Format layout files, manifest files, and resource XMLs
• Database Export: Format XML exports from databases and data warehouses
• XML Sitemap: Beautify and validate website sitemaps
• Office Documents: Work with Office Open XML formats (DOCX, XLSX, PPTX)

How XML Formatting Works

Our XML formatter processes your XML through these steps:

1. Parse XML: Parse the XML string using the browser's DOMParser API
2. Validate Structure: Check for well-formedness and syntax errors
3. Build Tree: Construct a hierarchical tree structure of elements
4. Apply Formatting: Add proper indentation, line breaks, and spacing
5. Output Result: Generate beautified XML with your chosen settings

Features of Our XML Formatter

• Real-time Validation: Instantly validate XML syntax and structure
• Customizable Indentation: Choose indent size from 1 to 8 spaces
• Minification: Compress XML by removing whitespace and line breaks
• Comment Removal: Option to strip XML comments from output
• Attribute Sorting: Alphabetically sort element attributes
• Error Detection: Detailed error messages with line numbers
• Statistics: View character count, element count, and size information
• Privacy First: All processing happens in your browser
• No Size Limit: Format XML documents of any size
• Fast Processing: Instant formatting with no server delays

XML Best Practices

• Always include the XML declaration: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
• Use descriptive element and attribute names that reflect their purpose
• Maintain consistent indentation (2 or 4 spaces is standard)
• Close all tags properly - XML requires well-formed documents
• Use attributes for metadata and elements for data content
• Validate XML against schemas (XSD) for production use
• Use namespaces to avoid element name conflicts
• Keep documents readable with proper formatting and comments
• Escape special characters: < > & ' "

Examples

<?xml version="1.0"?><library><book id="1"><title>XML Guide</title><author>John Doe</author></book></library>

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<library>
  <book id="1">
    <title>XML Guide</title>
    <author>John Doe</author>
  </book>
</library>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0">
  <channel>
    <title>My Blog</title>
    <link>https://example.com</link>
    <description>Latest posts</description>
    <item>
      <title>First Post</title>
      <pubDate>Mon, 01 Jan 2024 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
    </item>
  </channel>
</rss>

Frequently Asked Questions