# Double Quotes in XML **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [March 17, 2006, 9:35pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/double-quotes-in-xml/55205 "2006-03-17T21:35:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gparsons](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/b487fb/32.png) [@gparsons](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/gparsons)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 9:35pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/double-quotes-in-xml/55205/1 "2006-03-17T21:35:39Z")
I’m trying to do something similar to the following: \ Foo must equal "bar". `Foo = "bar"` I’m reading the actual rules and descriptions in from a giant file and when i spit it back out into an xml file i get errors involving the quotes around bar. Looking at examples that should be working i notice there’s a difference between the quotes (if this will show up in groups it’s: " vs " ). I’m by no means an xml expert (or even novice) so i may just be missing something here, but it seems like it’s something to do with the encodings maybe? Anyone have any suggestions? - Geoff ---
**Author:** ![gparsons](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/b487fb/32.png) [@gparsons](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/gparsons)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 9:50pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/double-quotes-in-xml/55205/2 "2006-03-17T21:50:48Z")
On 3/17/06, gparsons [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > I’m reading the actual rules and descriptions in from a giant file and > when i spit it back out into an xml file i get errors involving the > quotes around bar. Looking at examples that should be working i notice > there’s a difference between the quotes (if this will show up in groups > it’s: " vs " ). I’m by no means an xml expert (or even novice) so i > may just be missing something here, but it seems like it’s something to > do with the encodings maybe? Anyone have any suggestions? You need to do one of the following. ` bar Foo="bar"` ` I prefer the first option listed above. On another note, I don’t think it’s typical to use uppercase the way you are. I’d do it like this. ` ---
**Author:** ![gparsons](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/b487fb/32.png) [@gparsons](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/gparsons)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 10:30pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/double-quotes-in-xml/55205/3 "2006-03-17T22:30:20Z")
Unfortunately i don’t have much control over the markup (i’m not even sure the program that is reading this in is expecting valid xml… sigh). turns out it was a problem with what i was reading in having some funky stuff going on. ---
**Author:** ![gparsons](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/b487fb/32.png) [@gparsons](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/gparsons)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 1:11am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/double-quotes-in-xml/55205/4 "2006-03-18T01:11:05Z")
On Mar 17, 2006, at 3:33 PM, gparsons wrote: > I’m trying to do something similar to the following: > > \ Foo must equal "bar". `Foo = "bar"` This is well-formed XML. (BTW, there is nothing wrong with the use of caps in the element names, maybe slightly unusual but that’s all – just don’t forget that XML is case sensitive) > do with the encodings maybe? Anyone have any suggestions? > What is giving you the errors? If I read you correctly, it is when > you are writing the XML, so it isn’t a parser giving you trouble. Cheers, Bob > - Geoff * * * Bob H. – blogs at \<[http://www.recursive.ca/](http://www.recursive.ca/) hutch/\> Recursive Design Inc. – [http://www.recursive.ca/](http://www.recursive.ca/) Raconteur – [http://www.raconteur.info/](http://www.raconteur.info/) xampl for Ruby – [http://rubyforge.org/projects/xampl/](http://rubyforge.org/projects/xampl/) ---
**Author:** ![gparsons](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/b487fb/32.png) [@gparsons](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/gparsons)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 12:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/double-quotes-in-xml/55205/5 "2006-03-18T12:00:37Z")
On Mar 17, 2006, at 7:22 PM, Mark V. wrote: > > > ``` > > > Foo = "bar" > > > > > > ``` > > > > This is well-formed XML. > > I think it’s not well-formed because the Code element contains text > with unescaped double-quotes. If you change them to " then it’s > well-formed. It isn’t really a matter of opinion, and you are nowhere near lazy enough 🙂 Run it through a validator. Both rxp and xmllint believe that it is OK. That is not to say that it wouldn’t be better to escape those three characters ( quot, apos, and gt – you _must_ escape lt and amp) – there’s a lot of buggy software out there, and a little prevention can save you lots of trouble. . Cheers, Bob > – > R. Mark V. > Object Computing, Inc. * * * Bob H. – blogs at \<[http://www.recursive.ca/](http://www.recursive.ca/) hutch/\> Recursive Design Inc. – [http://www.recursive.ca/](http://www.recursive.ca/) Raconteur – [http://www.raconteur.info/](http://www.raconteur.info/) xampl for Ruby – [http://rubyforge.org/projects/xampl/](http://rubyforge.org/projects/xampl/) ---
**Author:** ![gparsons](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/b487fb/32.png) [@gparsons](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/gparsons)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 1:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/double-quotes-in-xml/55205/6 "2006-03-18T01:23:08Z")
On 3/17/06, Bob H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > > This is well-formed XML. I think it’s not well-formed because the Code element contains text with unescaped double-quotes. If you change them to " then it’s well-formed.