XDocument.Save Method (TextWriter, SaveOptions)

If you want to save unindented XML, specify the DisableFormatting flag for options. This will cause the writer to write all white space exactly as represented in the XML tree.

If you want to save indented XML, do not specify the DisableFormatting flag for options. This will remove all extraneous insignificant white space, and add appropriate insignificant white space so that the XML is properly indented. This is the default behavior, and the behavior of the overloads of the Save methods that do not take options as a parameter.

For more information, see Preserving White Space while Loading or Parsing XML and Preserving White Space While Serializing.

The following example shows two uses of this method. The first use serializes the XDocument with formatting. The second preserves white space. Because the document has no white space in it as constructed, preserving white space outputs the XML without any indenting.

Dim doc As XDocument = _ 
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
        <Root><Child>content</Child></Root>

Dim sb1 As StringBuilder = New StringBuilder()

Using sr1 = New StringWriter(sb1)
    doc.Save(sr1, SaveOptions.None)
    Console.WriteLine(sb1.ToString())
End Using

Dim sb2 As StringBuilder = New StringBuilder()

Using sr2 = New StringWriter(sb2)
    doc.Save(sr2, SaveOptions.DisableFormatting)
    Console.WriteLine(sb2.ToString())
End Using

This example produces the following output:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>
<Root>
  <Child>content</Child>
</Root>
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><Root><Child>content</Child></Root>

.NET Framework

.NET Framework Client Profile

Portable Class Library

.NET for Windows Store apps

Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Windows 7, Windows Vista SP2, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core Role not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core Role supported with SP1 or later; Itanium not supported)

The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

Reference

Other Resources