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IsXML

Last update:
May 18, 2026

Description

Determines whether a string is well-formed XML text.

Returns

True, if the function parameter is a string that contains well-formed XML text; False, otherwise.

Category

Function syntax

IsXML(value,parserOptions)

See also

IsXmlAttributeIsXmlDocIsXmlElemIsXmlNodeIsXmlRootXmlParseXmlValidateUsing XML and WDDX in the Developing ColdFusion Applications

History

ColdFusion (2018 release): Introduced named parameters.
ColdFusion MX 7: Added this function.

Parameters

Parameter
Description
value
parserOptions
A string containing the XML document text
XML parsing options

Usage

This function determines whether text is well-formed XML, that is, it conforms to all XML syntax and structuring rules. The string does not have to be a complete XML document. The function does not validate against a Document Type Definition (DTD) or XML Schema.

Example

The following example creates two strings, and tests whether they are well-formed XML text:
<!--- A well formed XML string ---> 
<cfset xmlString1='<order id="4323251"> 
<customer firstname="Philip" lastname="Cramer" accountNum="21"/> 
<items> 
<item id="43"> 
<quantity>1</quantity> 
<unitprice>15.95</unitprice> 
</item> 
</items> 
</order>' 


<!--- An invalid XML string, missing the </item> close tag ---> 
<cfset xmlString2='<order id="4323251"> 
<customer firstname="Philip" lastname="Cramer" accountNum="21"/> 
<items> 
<item id="43"> 
<quantity>1</quantity> 
<unitprice>15.95</unitprice> 
</items> 
</order>' 


<!--- Test the strings to see if they are well formed XML ---> 
<cfoutput> 
xmlString1 contains the following text:<br><br> 
#HTMLCodeFormat(xmlstring1)# 
Is it well formed XML text? #IsXML(xmlString1)#<br><br> 
<hr> 
xmlString2 contains the following text:<br><br> 
#HTMLCodeFormat(xmlstring2)# 
Is it well formed XML text? #IsXML(xmlString2)# 
</cfoutput>

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