Permitted Characters


Datafile Software

Permitted Characters


Any printable characters can be used within a Datafile template, other than with the restriction on element names given above. However, certain characters have specific uses and are best avoided within data item names, and also from data in database files that is to be output to an XML file. These characters are:

The five "escaped” characters described further below: > < & " '
The colon and semi-colon. The colon is used in namespaces, and the semi-colon in the expansion of escaped characters

Note that the apostrophe (quote) ' and double quote " characters both serve the same purpose as delimiters in attribute parameters (see below). As a standard we recommend using the double quote throughout rather than the apostrophe.

Important Note

The content of XML files is case sensitive, that is to say that you must be careful to use a lower-case letter where a lowercase letter is expected, and an upper-case letter where an upper-case letter is expected. "Fred” is not the same as "fred” or "FRED”.
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Article ID: 1802
Created On: Mon, Jul 9, 2012 at 1:44 PM
Last Updated On: Thu, Jun 22, 2023 at 5:00 PM

Online URL: https://kb.datafile.co.uk/article/permitted-characters-1802.html