XML '&' character causing problems

Question

A semi colon character was expected. Error processing resource '...

<key>SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\CNXT_MODEM_PCI_VEN_8086&DEV

How can I avoid this error being printed out when viewing my XML file in a browser? It seems to complain because of the '&' character, how do I escape it? thanks.

Answer 1

Try escaping it with &.

Answer 2

You need to use the character entity &You will also probably experience issues with the open angle bracket, which needs to be encoded as <

Answer 3

The & character should be escaped as &, as per the XML standard. See this SO question for more info.

Answer 4

To escape an ampersand:

&

Answer 5

How did you create such XML? I bet you created it using string manipulation, as no self-respecting XML API would have produced such invalid XML.

This is why to create XML using XML APIs instead of string APIs.

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var keyElement = new XElement(
    "key", @"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\CNXT_MODEM_PCI_VEN_8086&DEV");

Problem solved.