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XML-FORMAT(1)		     General Commands Manual		   XML-FORMAT(1)

NAME
     XML-FORMAT - XML beautifier

SYNOPSIS
     xml-format filename

DESCRIPTION
     xml-format is an XML beautifier that indents and formats XML files for con-
     sistent line length.

     As  with  all  file  beautifiers, its primary purpose is to take a document
     created by someone with a perplexing lack of self-discipline and  aesthetic
     sensibility and make it readable.

     The  XML  file  is modified in place, and the original document is saved to
     filename.bak, in case you don't like the results.

     Since XML is a class of markup languages, not a markup language,  the  type
     of  each  tag encountered is determined from the type of XML file (DocBook,
     XHTML, etc.), which, in turn,  is	inferred  from	the  filename  extension
     (".dbk" for DocBook, ".xhtml" for XHTML, etc.)

     There are four types of tags:

     Block  tags denote blocks of content that should be visually separated from
     others in the XML source, and often require multiple lines, such  as  para-
     graphs,  captions,  and  programlistings.	 Blocks are separated from other
     content by a blank line.  Content within a block is indented  the	same  as
     the block tags.

	 <para>
	 The large forest planet Oglaroon is home to the Oglaroonians,
	 an "intelligent" species who maintain an entire civilisation,
	 including some extremely small wars, in one small nut tree,
	 believing it to be the entire universe, and other trees to be
	 merely Oglanut-induced illusions.
	 </para>

     Line  tags  denote  small	but important content items that should be high-
     lighted, but not necessarily use multiple lines, such as titles  and  index
     terms.   xml-format  attempts  to keep line tag items to a single, separate
     line line.

	 <title>So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish</title>

     Sectioning tags denote structural components of a document, such  as  chap-
     ters,  sections,  figures,  and lists.  Opening and closing sectioning tags
     are placed alone on separate lines.  Content between sectioning tags is in-
     dented one more level beyond the tags themselves.

     <chapter>
	 <title>Construction of Earth</title>

	 <para>
	 For a time in the distant past, fjords were fashionable...
	 </para>
     </chapter>

     All other tags that do not fall into the first three categories are consid-
     ered in-line, and are treated essentially as text,  except  that  they  are
     nestled against the text they surround.

	 People were described as daring <emphasis>to boldly split
	 infinitives that no man had split before</emphasis>. However,

     The  type of each tag is determined from simple text files containing lists
     of each tag name, on per line, in DATADIR/Config/language/<type>-tags.txt.

     For example, the tags for DocBook XML are found in:

     DATADIR/Config/dbk/block-tags.txt
     DATADIR/Config/dbk/line-tags.txt
     DATADIR/Config/dbk/sectioning-tags.txt

FILES
     DATADIR/Config/*/*.txt

SEE ALSO
     dblatex, xmlto

BUGS
     Please report bugs to the author and send patches in unified  diff  format.
     (Run man diff for more information.)

AUTHOR
     Jason W. Bacon

								   XML-FORMAT(1)

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