When to Use String Datatypes
It’s amazing to think that despite all the complex
applications that have been made possible by SGML and XML, whitespace
processing—which seems as if it should be simple—has
remained a nightmare for users and programmers. The
string
datatype will expose you to all the issues related to whitespace
handling. A huge number of users and applications will modify
whitespace in your documents to meet their expectations, which can
make your documents invalid.
The token datatype keeps this nightmare from
creating problems, and that is why RELAX NG uses
token as its default datatype. Keep in mind that
you shouldn’t use the string
datatype unless you have a good reason to do so. If whitespace is
genuinely significant to your information, use the
string type; otherwise, use the
token type.
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