XSD String Data Types

String data types are used for values that contains character strings.

String Data Type

The string data type can contain characters, line feeds, carriage returns, and tab characters.

The following is an example of a string declaration in a schema:

<xs:element name="customer" type="xs:string"/>

An element in your document might look like this:

<customer>John Smith</customer>

Or it might look like this:

<customer>	John Smith	</customer>

Note: The XML processor will not modify the value if you use the string data type.

NormalizedString Data Type

The normalizedString data type is derived from the String data type.

The normalizedString data type also contains characters, but the XML processor will remove line feeds, carriage returns, and tab characters.

The following is an example of a normalizedString declaration in a schema:

<xs:element name="customer" type="xs:normalizedString"/>

An element in your document might look like this:

<customer>John Smith</customer>

Or it might look like this:

<customer>	John Smith	</customer>

Note: In the example above the XML processor will replace the tabs with spaces.

Token Data Type

The token data type is also derived from the String data type.

The token data type also contains characters, but the XML processor will remove line feeds, carriage returns, tabs, leading and trailing spaces, and multiple spaces.

The following is an example of a token declaration in a schema:

<xs:element name="customer" type="xs:token"/>

An element in your document might look like this:

<customer>John Smith</customer>

Or it might look like this:

<customer>	John Smith	</customer>

Note: In the example above the XML processor will remove the tabs.

String Data Types

Note that all of the data types below derive from the String data type (except for string itself)!

Restrictions on String Data Types

Restrictions that can be used with String data types:

• enumeration
• length
• maxLength
• minLength
• pattern (NMTOKENS, IDREFS, and ENTITIES cannot use this constraint)
• whiteSpace

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