RSS Syntax Overview

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. The syntax of RSS 2.0 is very simple and strict. RSS is used to share information between websites.

RSS syntax

The syntax of RSS 2.0 is simple and strict.

How RSS works

RSS is used to share information between websites.

With RSS, you register your content with a company called an aggregator.

One of the steps is to create an RSS document and then save it with an .xml suffix. Then upload this file to your website. Next, register through an RSS aggregator. Every day, the aggregator searches the registered website for RSS documents, verifies its links, and displays information about the feed so that customers can link to documents that interest them.

Tip: Please browse the free RSS aggregator service in the RSS release section.

RSS example

RSS documents use a simple self-describing syntax.

Let's look at a simple RSS document:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> 
<rss version="2.0"> 

<channel> 
  <title>The rookie tutorial homepage</title> 
  <link>http://www.runoob.com </link> 
  <description>Free programming tutorial</description> 
  <item> 
    <title>RSS tutorial</title> 
    <link>http://www.runoob.com/rss</link> 
    <description>Rookie tutorial Rss Tutorial</description> 
  </item> 
  <item> 
    <title>XML tutorial</title> 
    <link>http://www.runoob.com/xml</link> 
    <description>Rookie tutorial XML tutorial</description> 
  </item> 
</channel> 

</rss>

The first line in the document: XML declaration-defines the XML version and character encoding used in the document. This example complies with the 1.0 specification and uses the UTF-8 character set (Chinese is supported).

The next line is an RSS declaration that identifies this document as an RSS document (in this case, RSS version 2.0).

The next line contains the element. This element is used to describe the RSS feed.

The element has three required child elements:

1. <title>-defines the title of the channel. (Such as the home page of the rookie tutorial)
2. <link>-Defines the hyperlink to reach the channel. (Such as www.runoob.com)
3. -Describe this channel (such as free programming tutorials)

Each <channel> element can have one or more <item> elements.

Each <item> element can define an article or "story" in the RSS feed.

The <item< element has three required child elements:

1. <titlel>-defines the title of the project. (Such as RSS tutorial)
2. <linkl>-Defines the hyperlink to reach the item. (Such as http://www.runoob.com/rss)
3. <descriptionl>-Describe this channel (such as free programming tutorials)

Finally, the next two lines close the <channell> and <rssl> elements.

Comments in RSS

The syntax for writing comments in RSS is similar to that of HTML:

<!-- This is an RSS comment -->

RSS is written in XML.
Because RSS is also XML, please remember:

1. All elements must have closing tags
2. Elements are case sensitive
3. Elements must be nested correctly
4. Attribute value must be quoted