[libxml-devel] Changing node equality

[Sean Chittenden]

>> Not the same thing. Comparing raw XML string is overly strict. For
>> example I would expect the following two snips to be "equal":
>
>  <root><foo bar="10" baz="20">Hi</foo></root
>
> and
>
>  <root>
>    <foo baz="20" bar="10">
>      Hi
>    </foo>
>  </root>
>
> These would not be equal by string comparison b/c the attribute bar
> and baz are not in the same order (to say nothing of white space).

Actually, they're not equal for a different reasons.  You have to  
enable whitespace stripping on document load, then they would be  
correct.  Internally, XML sees the above fragment like:

  <root>[whitespace, including newline]<foo baz="20" bar="10">
      Hi
    </foo>[whitespace, including newline]</root>

Whitespace is a special XML node that exists between elements.  <:~/   
Not ideal, and not something I agree with, but...

--
Sean Chittenden
sean at chittenden.org