Name
Entity Declared
Text from specification
In a document with an external subset or external
parameter entities with standalone='no
', the Name
given in the entity reference
must match that in an entity declaration. For interoperability,
valid documents should declare the entities amp
, lt
, gt
, apos
, quot
. The declaration of a parameter
entity must precede any reference to it. Similarly, the
declaration of a general entity must precede any attribute-list
declaration containing a default value with a direct or indirect
reference to that general entity.
Explanation
Parameter and general entity declarations must precede any
references to these entities. All entity references must refer
to previously declared entities. The specification also states
that declaring the five predefined general entities (amp
, lt
, gt
, apos
, and quot
) is a good idea. In reality,
declaring the predefined general entities adds unnecessary
complexity to most applications.
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