[c#] Convert XmlDocument to String

Here is how I'm currently converting XMLDocument to String

StringWriter stringWriter = new StringWriter();
XmlTextWriter xmlTextWriter = new XmlTextWriter(stringWriter);

xmlDoc.WriteTo(xmlTextWriter);

return stringWriter.ToString();

The problem with this method is that if I have " ((quotes) which I have in attributes) it escapes them.

For Instance:

<Campaign name="ABC">
</Campaign>

Above is the expected XML. But it returns

<Campaign name=\"ABC\">
</Campaign>

I can do String.Replace "\" but is that method okay? Are there any side-effects? Will it work fine if the XML itself contains a "\"

This question is related to c# string escaping quotes xmldocument

The answer is


If you are using Windows.Data.Xml.Dom.XmlDocument version of XmlDocument (used in UWP apps for example), you can use yourXmlDocument.GetXml() to get the XML as a string.


" is shown as \" in the debugger, but the data is correct in the string, and you don't need to replace anything. Try to dump your string to a file and you will note that the string is correct.


As an extension method:

public static class Extensions
{
    public static string AsString(this XmlDocument xmlDoc)
    {
        using (StringWriter sw = new StringWriter())
        {
            using (XmlTextWriter tx = new XmlTextWriter(sw))
            {
                xmlDoc.WriteTo(tx);
                string strXmlText = sw.ToString();
                return strXmlText;
            }
        }
    }
}

Now to use simply:

yourXmlDoc.AsString()

you can use xmlDoc.InnerXml property to get xml in string


Assuming xmlDoc is an XmlDocument object whats wrong with xmlDoc.OuterXml?

return xmlDoc.OuterXml;

The OuterXml property returns a string version of the xml.


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