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XPointer, a language for referring to locations of fragments of an XML document, brings similar (but more expansive) capabilities to using URLs with hashes in order to link to a particular point in an HTML document. Learn more about this language, including the controversy it has stirred up and the alternative schemes it has spawned.
The XPointer Framework [W3C Recommendation] defines a language that you can use to refer to fragments of an XML document. You're perhaps already familiar with how you can use URLs with hashes ("#") in them to link to a particular section of an HTML document. XPointer brings similar but much broader capabilities when linking or referring to XML documents. You can use the framework with the xpointer() scheme [in development], element() scheme [W3C Recommendation], and xmlns() scheme [W3C Recommendation], which define specific instructions for expressing the document fragments of interest within the XPointer Framework.
XPointer has had a rather chaotic road, and there has been a lot of dissenting activity. Members of the XPointer working group themselves developed a counter-proposal, Fragment Identifier for XML (FIXptr) [community standard]. Several alternative XPointer schemes include the xpath1() scheme [IETF Internet Draft].
- XPointer changed quite significantly just before it became a
recommendation, so be careful of the many tutorials out there that cover
older versions. ZVON offers an up-to-date XPointer
tutorial.
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