XML Elements and Attributes

In this tutorial, the basic concept of XML elements and attributes are described. An XML document contains XML Elements. An XML element is everything from the element’s start tag to the element’s end tag (including both).

An element can contain other elements, simple text or a mixture of both. XML elements can have attributes in the start tag, just like HTML. Attributes provide additional information about elements.

The following example is an XML document with some elements and attributes:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<library>
  <book category="ENGINEERING">
    <title>Introduction to Algorithms</title>
    <author>Thomas H. Cormen et al</author>
    <edition>3rd</edition>
    <price>₹1,125</price>
  </book>
  <book category="CHILDREN">
    <title>The Blue Umbrella</title>
    <author>Ruskin Bond</author>
    <edition>2nd</edition>
    <price>₹111</price>
  </book>
  <book category="BIOGRAPHY">
    <title>Notes of a Dream</title>
    <author>Trilok Krishna</author>
    <edition>1st</edition>
    <price>₹304</price>
  </book>
</library>

In the example above, <library> and <book> have element contents, because they contain other elements. <author> has text content because it contains text.

In the example above only <book> has an attribute (category=”ENGINEERING”).

Attribute values must always be enclosed in quotes, but either single or double quotes can be used. For a person’s gender, the person tag can be written like this:

or like this:

XML Elements vs. XML Attributes

There are no rules about when to use attributes and when to use elements. Attributes are handy in HTML. But in XML they are difficult to read and maintain. It is better to use elements for data and to use attributes for information that is not relevant to the data.

In XML it is recommended to avoid attributes. Use elements instead.

Take a look at these examples:

First Example