Name

<!DOCTYPE>

Synopsis

The <!DOCTYPE> instruction allows you to specify a DTD for an XML document. This instruction currently takes one of two forms: 

<!DOCTYPE root-element SYSTEM "URI_of_DTD">
<!DOCTYPE root-element PUBLIC "name" "URI_of_DTD">

Keywords

SYSTEM

The SYSTEM variant specifies the URI location of a DTD for private use in the document. For example: 

<!DOCTYPE Book SYSTEM
   "http://mycompany.com/dtd/mydoctype.dtd">
PUBLIC

The PUBLIC variant is used in situations in which a DTD has been publicized for widespread use. In these cases, the DTD is assigned a unique name, which the XML processor may use by itself to attempt to retrieve the DTD. If this fails, the URI is used: 

<!DOCTYPE Book PUBLIC "-//O'Reilly//DTD//EN"
   "http://www.oreilly.com/dtd/xmlbk.dtd">

Public DTDs follow a specific naming convention. See the XML specification for details on naming public DTDs. 

<!DOCTYPE root-element SYSTEM|PUBLIC
["name"] "URI_of_DTD">

Get Webmaster in a Nutshell, Third Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial