Re: Is whitespace within general entities ignorable?

[John Cowan <jcowan@reutershealth.com>]

Rob Lugt wrote:

> Section 2.10 mentions the distinction between significant and insignificant
> white space but doesn't give a definition. The validity constraint in
> Section 3(2) for element content talks about the white space surrounding
> child elements having to match the non terminal S[3] - but is this after
> entity substitution has been performed?

No.  The whitespace in element content has to be real whitespace
characters: not entity references, not CDATA sections.

> <?xml version = "1.0"?>
> <!DOCTYPE test [
> <!ELEMENT test (child)*>
> <!ENTITY entws "   ">
> ]>
> <test>
>  &entws;
> </test>

Invalid.

 
> If we say that it is illegal to have white space within the GE, then
> something like this would also be illegal:-
> <!ENTITY entws "   <child/>  ">

Valid.

> Secondly, what if the content model of <test> was changed to EMPTY?  Would
> this make any difference to your view?  It appears to me that including the
> reference to &entws; creates content - which is illegal for EMPTY elements.

Right.  In an EMPTY element, the start-tag and the end-tag must abut,
with nothing at all between them.

> And finally, what if &entws; was declared as: <!ENTITY entws "&#9;">.  Would
> that make any difference?

No.

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