Where does and doesn't whitespace matter?

[Roger L Costello <costello@mitre.org>]

Hi Folks,

I ignore PIs, CDATA sections, and DOCTYPE.

Is this correct:

1. Whitespace before and after an XML declaration doesn't matter.

2. Start tags

2.1 Whitespace preceding the > and the /> doesn't matter, e.g.,

	<foo   >
	<foo   />

2.2. Whitespace before an attribute name doesn't matter, e.g.,

	<foo   x="1">

2.3 Whitespace surrounding the equals symbol in an attribute doesn't matter, e.g.,

	<foo  x   =   "1">

2.4 Whitespace between attributes doesn't matter, e.g.,

	<foo  x="1"    y="2">

2.5 Whitespace in an attribute value _does_ matter, e.g.,

	<foo  x = "   1   ">

3. End tags

3.1  Whitespace preceding the > doesn't matter, e.g.,

	</foo    >

4. Element content

4.1 In an element whose content is purely data, the whitespace in the data _does_ matter, e.g.,

	<foo>    hello, world    </foo>

4.2 In an element whose content is elements interleaved with whitespace, the whitespace _does_ matter. With regard to the whitespace in the elements, see steps 2 - 4. Example:

	<foo>
	      <bar>  hello, world  </bar>
	      <baz>    glob    </baz>
	</foo>

The whitespace between <foo> and <bar> _does_ matter. The whitespace between </bar> and <baz> _does_ matter. The whitespace between </baz> and </foo> _does_ matter. See steps 2 - 4 regarding what whitespace in <bar>  hello, world  </bar> matters and what whitespace in <baz>    glob    </baz> matters.

5. Root element:

5.1 Whitespace after the end tag doesn't matter.

Do you agree? Am I missing anything?

/Roger
4. White