Mixed Content

In certain, probably rare circumstances, you will wish to include parsed character data as a valid element. Mixing content works as expected. Thus, the following XML document would be valid.

<?xml version = "1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone = "yes"?>
<!DOCTYPE CONTACTS [
  <!ELEMENT CONTACTS ANY>
  <!ELEMENT CONTACT (NAME | EMAIL | PHONE | #PCDATA)*>
  <!ELEMENT NAME (#PCDATA)>
  <!ELEMENT EMAIL (#PCDATA)>
  <!ELEMENT PHONE (#PCDATA)>
  ]>

<CONTACTS>

<CONTACT>
  <NAME>Roger Kaplan</NAME>
  <EMAIL>rabbit@kaplan.com</EMAIL>
  <PHONE>1800YOMOMMA</PHONE>
  Roger is a swingin' hep cat!
</CONTACT>

</CONTACTS>

Optional Children
Introduction to XML For Web Developers | Table of Contents
Empty Elements