XML Error: Extra content at the end of the document

Question

This is the XML:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<document>
<name>Sample Document</name>
<type>document</type>
<url>http://nsc-component.webs.com/Office/Editor/new-doc.html?docname=New+Document&amp;titletype=Title&amp;fontsize=9&amp;fontface=Arial&amp;spacing=1.0&amp;text=&amp;wordcount3=0</url>
</document>

<document>
<name>Sample</name>
<type>document</type>
<url>http://nsc-component.webs.com/Office/Editor/new-doc.html?docname=New+Document&amp;titletype=Title&amp;fontsize=9&amp;fontface=Arial&amp;spacing=1.0&amp;text=&amp;</url>
</document>

When I open it it says: This page contains the following errors: error on line 8 at column 1: Extra content at the end of the document

But when there is only this:

<document>
<name>Sample</name>
<type>document</type>
<url>http://nsc-component.webs.com/Office/Editor/new-doc.html?docname=New+Document&amp;titletype=Title&amp;fontsize=9&amp;fontface=Arial&amp;spacing=1.0&amp;text=&amp;</url>
</document>

Why is it saying this when there is two?

Possible duplicate of [Error on line 2 at column 1: Extra content at the end of the document](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4544272/error-on-line-2-at-column-1-extra-content-at-the-end-of-the-document) — Dima Fomin, Dec 11 '16 at 10:32

score 83 · Accepted Answer · answered May 31 '13 at 15:51

You need a root node

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>    
<documents>
    <document>
        <name>Sample Document</name>
        <type>document</type>
        <url>http://nsc-component.webs.com/Office/Editor/new-doc.html?docname=New+Document&amp;titletype=Title&amp;fontsize=9&amp;fontface=Arial&amp;spacing=1.0&amp;text=&amp;wordcount3=0</url>
    </document>

    <document>
        <name>Sample</name>
        <type>document</type>
        <url>http://nsc-component.webs.com/Office/Editor/new-doc.html?docname=New+Document&amp;titletype=Title&amp;fontsize=9&amp;fontface=Arial&amp;spacing=1.0&amp;text=&amp;</url>
    </document>
</documents>

It seems that the root node can be anything. I've just used `
` instead of ``. — travisw, May 21 '19 at 14:20
make sure failing file is not imported into another xml file where root node is well-handled — ash17, Jan 10 '23 at 15:54

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 26 '20 at 20:57

5

I've found that this error is also generated if the document is empty. In this case it's also because there is no root element - but the error message "Extra content and the end of the document" is misleading in this situation.

answered Sep 26 '20 at 20:57

Dave

3,273
1
17
15

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 09 '22 at 14:03

0

I also had this error when quotes around text (like version and encoding) were curly quotes, not straight quotes.

answered Jun 09 '22 at 14:03

Mark

11
2

XML Error: Extra content at the end of the document

3 Answers3

Linked