Validate XMLs against XSDs

[peter_b]

This HowTo describes how to validate XML files, using XML Schema Definition (XSD) files, using "xmllint".

Here's the basic commandline:

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$ xmllint --noout --schema $XSD_FILE $XML_FILE

To make things more interesting, I'll use a somewhat real-world example of a METS Metadata XML export - cmmon in long-term preservation context.

Let's say we have the following set of files:

• metadata_mets.xml
• mets.xsd

Validating if the XML file (metadata_mets.xml), generated by a preservation system is actually a valid METS file, we use the proper schema definition (mets.xsd) and validate it using xmllint:

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$ xmllint --noout --schema mets.xsd metadata_mets.xml

If everything is fine, the result should be:

metadata_mets.xml validates

If not, you will receive information about what/where in the XML file does not validate against the given XSD.