Editing Namespace (section)

==Name conflicts==
Element names are defined by the developer. This often results in a conflict when trying to mix XML documents from different XML applications.

This XML carries [[HTML table]] information:
<syntaxhighlight lang="xml">
<table>
    <tr>
        <td>Apples</td>
        <td>Oranges</td>
    </tr>
</table>
</syntaxhighlight>
This XML carries information about a [[table (furniture)|table]] (i.e. a piece of furniture):
<syntaxhighlight lang="xml">
<table>
    <name>Mahogany Coffee Table</name>
    <width>80</width>
    <length>120</length>
</table>
</syntaxhighlight>

If these XML fragments were added together, there would be a name conflict. Both contain a {{tag|table}} element, but the elements have different content and meaning.

An XML parser will not know how to handle these differences.

===Solution via prefix===
Name conflicts in XML can easily be avoided using a name prefix.

The following XML distinguishes between information about the HTML table and furniture by prefixing "h" and "f" at the beginning of the elements.

<syntaxhighlight lang="xml">

<h:table>
    <h:tr>
        <h:td>Apples</h:td>
        <h:td>Oranges</h:td>
    </h:tr>
</h:table>

<f:table>
    <f:name>Mahogany Coffee Table</f:name>
    <f:width>80</f:width>
    <f:length>120</f:length>
</f:table>
</syntaxhighlight>