Xerces-C++ is a validating XML parser written in a portable subset of C++. Xerces-C++ makes it easy to give your application the ability to read and write XML data. A shared library is provided for parsing, generating, manipulating, and validating XML documents using the DOM, SAX, and SAX2 APIs. For an introduction to programming with Xerces-C++ refer to the Programming Guide.

Xerces-C++ is faithful to the XML 1.0 recommendation and many associated standards (see Features below).

The parser provides high performance, modularity, and scalability. Source code, samples and API documentation are provided with the parser. For portability, care has been taken to make minimal use of templates and minimal use of #ifdefs.

Please note that Xerces-C++ currently lacks active maintainers and therefore may not be able to promptly address all bugs and security risks. See the Security page for important information about using Xerces-C++ securely.

Xerces has rich generating and validating capabilities. The parser is used for:

• Building XML-savvy Web servers
• Building next generation of vertical applications that use XML as their data format
• On-the-fly validation for creating XML editors
• Ensuring the integrity of e-business data expressed in XML
• Building truly internationalized XML applications

• Conforms to
• XML 1.0 (Third Edition), W3C Recommendation
• XML 1.1 (First Edition), W3C Recommendation (Note: section 2.13 Normalization Checking has not been implemented)
• DOM Level 1 Specification, W3C Recommendation of October 1, 1998
• DOM Level 2 Core Specification, W3C Recommendation of November 13, 2000
• DOM Level 2 Traversal and Range Specification, W3C Recommendation of November 13, 2000
• SAX 1.0 and SAX 2.0
• Namespaces in XML, W3C Recommendation of January 14, 1999
• Namespaces in XML 1.1, W3C Recommendation
• XML Schema Part 1: Structure, W3C Recommendation 2 May 2001
• XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes, W3C Recommendation 2 May 2001
• DOM Level 3.0 Core Specification, W3C Recommendation 7 April 2004
• DOM Level 3.0 Load and Save Specification, W3C Recommendation 7 April 2004
  See DOM Level 3 Support for detail.
• XML Inclusions (XInclude) 1.0 (Second Edition), W3C Recommendation 15 November 2006
• Element Traversal Specification, W3C Recommendation 22 December 2008
• Source code, samples, and documentation are provided
• Programmatic generation and validation of XML
• Pluggable catalogs, validators and encodings
• High performance
• Customizable error handling

The Xerces-C++ Version 3.3.0 is available as a source distribution only. Xerces-C++ is made available under the Apache Software License, Version 2.0.

If you're looking for information regarding the old Xerces 2.x library, please be advised that Xerces 2.8.0 and all earlier releases are 100% unsupported and should no longer be used by applications.