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XmlNodeReader.Prefix Property

Summary

Gets the namespace prefix of the current node.

public string Prefix { get; }

Remarks

This property returns the namespace prefix of the current node. For example, if the current node is <ns:element xmlns:ns="urn:example" />, and the current node is the element node, this property returns "ns".

If the node does not have a prefix (e.g., it's a default namespace declaration or has no namespace), this property returns an empty string (String.Empty).

The value returned by this property is case-sensitive, conforming to the XML specification.

For attribute nodes, this property returns the prefix of the attribute name. For element nodes, it returns the prefix of the element name.

Return Value

Type Description
string The namespace prefix of the current node. Returns String.Empty if the node does not have a prefix.

Related Topics

Example

The following example demonstrates how to use the Prefix property.


using System;
using System.Xml;

public class Example
{
    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        string xmlString = @"
            <root xmlns:data=""http://example.com/data"">
                <data:item id=""1"">Sample Item</data:item>
                <anotherItem>Another Item</anotherItem>
            </root>";

        XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
        doc.LoadXml(xmlString);

        XmlNodeReader reader = new XmlNodeReader(doc.DocumentElement);

        while (reader.Read())
        {
            if (reader.NodeType == XmlNodeType.Element)
            {
                Console.WriteLine($"Element Name: {reader.Name}");
                Console.WriteLine($"  Namespace URI: {reader.NamespaceURI}");
                Console.WriteLine($"  Local Name: {reader.LocalName}");
                Console.WriteLine($"  Prefix: {reader.Prefix}");

                if (reader.HasAttributes)
                {
                    while (reader.MoveToNextAttribute())
                    {
                        Console.WriteLine($"  Attribute: {reader.Name}");
                        Console.WriteLine($"    Attribute Prefix: {reader.Prefix}");
                        Console.WriteLine($"    Attribute Value: {reader.Value}");
                    }
                    reader.MoveToElement(); // Move back to the element node
                }
                Console.WriteLine();
            }
        }
        reader.Close();
    }
}

Output:


Element Name: root
  Namespace URI: 
  Local Name: root
  Prefix: 

Element Name: data:item
  Namespace URI: http://example.com/data
  Local Name: item
  Prefix: data

  Attribute: data:id
    Attribute Prefix: data
    Attribute Value: 1
  Attribute: xmlns:data
    Attribute Prefix: xmlns
    Attribute Value: http://example.com/data

Element Name: anotherItem
  Namespace URI: 
  Local Name: anotherItem
  Prefix: