XML minify and compress is the process of removing unnecessary characters from an XML document without affecting its functionality or structure. These unnecessary characters include whitespace (spaces, tabs, line breaks), comments, and sometimes redundant attributes or elements. The goal is to reduce the file size of the XML document, which can improve performance, especially when transmitting the document over the web or when dealing with large volumes of XML data.
XML minify and compress includes:
- Removing whitespace: Eliminating unnecessary spaces, tabs, and line breaks between elements and attributes.
- Removing comments: Deleting comments that are not essential for the functionality of the XML data.
- Collapsing empty elements: Replacing empty elements (e.g.,
<element></element>) with self-closing tags (e.g., <element/>).
- Removing unnecessary attributes: Eliminating attributes that have default values or are not required for the XML data to function correctly.
- Shortening attribute names: Renaming attributes to shorter names, while preserving their original meaning.
Minifying XML can be useful in various scenarios, such as:
- Reducing file size: Minified XML files are smaller, making them easier to transmit over networks and store on devices.
- Improving parsing performance: Minified XML can be parsed faster, as there is less data to process.
- Enhancing readability: Minified XML can be easier to read and understand, as unnecessary characters are removed.
XML, or Extensible Markup Language, came into existence in the mid-1990s as a universal standard for structured document markup. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), led by Jon Bosak, developed XML as a simplification of the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). The XML 1.0 Specification was accepted as a recommendation by the W3C in February 1998, marking its official status as a web standard
XML file is a text file that contains data formatted using eXtensible Markup Language (XML). XML is a flexible, structured language used to encode documents and data in a way that is both human-readable and machine-readable. Unlike other markup languages like HTML (which is designed for displaying content on web pages), XML is used primarily for data storage, transport, and representation.
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. The World Wide Web Consortium's XML 1.0 Specification of 1998 and several other related specifications—all of them free open standards—define XML.
The design goals of XML emphasize simplicity, generality, and usability across the Internet. It is a textual data format with strong support via Unicode for different human languages. Although the design of XML focuses on documents, the language is widely used for the representation of arbitrary data structures, such as those used in web services.
Several schema systems exist to aid in the definition of XML-based languages, while programmers have developed many application programming interfaces (APIs) to aid the processing of XML data.Well-Formed Documents: For an XML document to be well-formed, it must adhere to the following rules:
Every opening tag must have a corresponding closing tag.
Tags are case-sensitive ( is different from ).
Tags must be properly nested. A tag cannot be opened inside another tag and closed outside of it.
Attribute values must always be enclosed in quotes (either single ' or double " quotes).
The document must have a single root element that wraps all other elements.
There should be no extraneous characters outside the XML structure, except for comments or prologs.
Escaping Characters: Certain characters have special meaning in XML and must be "escaped" when they appear in the data.