XML format
Property list
Apple's XML serialization for dictionaries, arrays, strings, numbers, dates, data, and booleans under a versioned <plist> wrapper.
An XML property list serializes a small fixed set of value types. Dictionaries alternate <key> elements with values; arrays contain values directly; booleans are empty <true/> and <false/> elements.
The same .plist extension can contain Apple's binary property-list encoding, so sniff the bytes before assuming XML. XML plists commonly include the public DTD but do not use an XML namespace.
- The <plist version="1.0"> wrapper contains exactly one root value.
- Every <key> inside a <dict> must be followed by exactly one value element.
- Dates use UTC ISO 8601 form and <data> contains Base64 text.
- The .plist extension does not distinguish XML from binary property lists.
- Root element
<plist>- Media type
application/x-plist- Extensions
.plist- Namespaces
- None — unqualified elements
- XMLDir label
xml
Specification: Apple Property List Programming Guide
A minimal valid document
Every example on this site is checked against the same parser the workspace uses, so what you see below is known to be well-formed.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>name</key><string>Catalog</string>
</dict>
</plist>Get started
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