Assume the XML document has no CDATA sections, PIs, comments, or DOCTYPE.
1. You are shown just a slice of an XML document:
> some text (possibly whitespace) not containing the less than symbol </
That is, you see a greater-than symbol, some text, and then a less-than symbol followed by a forward slash. You are not shown the stuff before > nor the stuff after </
What is it? Does the slice signify an element: the part before > is the start tag, the part after </ is its end tag, and text is the content of the element?
2. You are shown another slice of an XML document:
> whitespace <C
C = letter of the alphabet, colon, or underscore.
Does that slice signify the end of one element and the start of another element: the part before > is an end tag, the C in <C is the first character of a start tag, and whitespace separates the end tag from the start tag?
3. Is an end tag always followed by a less-than symbol (possibly with whitespace separating them)?
Scroll down to see the answers …
1. You are shown just a slice of an XML document:
> some text (possibly whitespace) not containing the less than symbol </
That is, you see a greater-than symbol, some text, and then a less-than symbol followed by a forward slash. You are not shown the stuff before > nor the stuff after </
What is it? Does the slice signify an element: the part before > is the start tag, the part after </ is its end tag, and text is the content of the element?
Answer: It might signify an element (start tag, content, end tag), e.g., <greeting>Hello, world</greeting>
But it might not. It might signify an end tag followed by another end tag, e.g., </D> </A>
2. You are shown another slice of an XML document:
> whitespace <C
C = letter of the alphabet, colon, or underscore.
Does that slice signify the end of one element and the start of another element: the part before > is an end tag, the C in <C is the first character of a start tag, and whitespace separates the end tag from the start tag?
Answer: It might signify the end of one element and the start of another element (with some whitespace between them), e.g., </book> <magazine>
But it might not. It might signify an element embedded in another element (with some whitespace between them), e.g., <document> <paragraph>
3. Is an end tag always followed by a less-than symbol (possibly with whitespace separating them)?
Answer: Yes, with one exception: the end tag of the root element is not followed by a less-than symbol.
