Spaces in version attribute allowed

[dvdlei]

Does anyone know if it is allowed to use space characters right before and after the 'equals'-sign?<?xml version = '1.0' encoding = 'UTF-8' ?>The offical page http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml/ says:Eq ::= S? '=' S?Does the question mark here mean that it is allowed to use spaces here?

[kvnmck18]

This:<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>or this:<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>...you need them like that.Why do you not?

[dvdlei]

This:<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>or this:<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>...you need them like that.Why do you not?

We receive this XML from an external party, and I wonder if it's fair to tell them they are not following the exact XML specs. What do you think?

[boen_robot]

The syntax of the spec is known as BNF. Read more about it in ALA's article How to Read W3C Specs?.According to it, and the XML spec itself, it seems using spaces between the equal sign is allowed. It's not exactly a best practice but it's allowed. So technically speaking, they are not violating the spec. It's fair to tell them that they are not using best writing practices, but invalid/not well formed - certanly not.

[dvdlei]

The syntax of the spec is known as BNF. Read more about it in ALA's article How to Read W3C Specs?.According to it, and the XML spec itself, it seems using spaces between the equal sign is allowed. It's not exactly a best practice but it's allowed. So technically speaking, they are not violating the spec. It's fair to tell them that they are not using best writing practices, but invalid/not well formed - certanly not.

Thank you for your clear answer boen_robot, The BNF standard was new for me and helped me alot with interpreting the syntax of these specs.