What counts as an 'empty element' here?

Any element that's already self-closing, or that has no meaningful children (no non-blank text and no child elements), regardless of how it was originally written.

Does this affect elements with content?

No, only elements with no content are affected; elements with text or child elements are re-serialized as-is (just re-indented), untouched by the style toggle.

Which style should I pick?

Self-closing ( ) is more compact and common in modern XML/config generation; explicit open/close ( ) is sometimes required by older parsers or specific schema tooling that doesn't handle self-closing tags. Pick whichever your downstream system expects.

XML Syntax Changer - Toggle Self-Closing Tags Online

Overview

Introduction

Some XML tooling insists on self-closing empty tags; other tooling chokes on them and wants an explicit open/close pair instead.

This tool converts a whole document to whichever style you need.

What Is XML Syntax Changer?

A style-normalizing tool that walks a parsed XML document.

It rewrites every empty element consistently, as either self-closing or an explicit open/close pair, based on the mode you choose.

How XML Syntax Changer Works

The document is parsed and re-serialized.

At each empty element, self-closing already, or with no meaningful content, the chosen style is applied, while elements with actual content are left structurally unchanged (just re-indented).

When To Use XML Syntax Changer

Use it when a downstream parser or schema tool requires one specific empty-element style.

It handles a source document that uses the other style, or a mix of both, in one pass.

Often used alongside XML Double Quote Converter, XML Single Quote Converter and XML Prettifier.

Features

Advantages

Standardizes style across an entire document in one pass.
Leaves elements with actual content untouched.
Runs entirely client-side.

Limitations

Only affects empty elements, this isn't a general reformatter, use the XML Prettifier for indentation on elements with content.
Applies one style to the whole document, there's no way to mix styles for different elements in a single pass.

Examples

Expanding self-closing tags

Input

<root><empty/><full>x</full></root>

Output

<root>
  <empty></empty>
  <full>x</full>
</root>

The self-closing <empty/> becomes an explicit <empty></empty>; <full> is untouched since it has content.

Best Practices & Notes

Best Practices

Run the XML Validator after switching styles if you're unsure whether the target system also cares about other formatting details.
Pick self-closing for more compact output, or open/close for compatibility with stricter parsers.
Re-run after merging XML from multiple sources, to standardize whatever mix of styles they arrived with.

Developer Notes

Both modes share one recursive renderer in `change-xml-syntax.ts`; the `mode` parameter only changes how the two lines handling empty elements are serialized.

XML Syntax Changer Use Cases

Matching a downstream parser's expected empty-element style
Standardizing style across a document assembled from multiple sources
Cleaning up style before a code review or commit

Common Mistakes

Expecting this to reformat elements with content beyond re-indenting them, use the XML Prettifier for general formatting.
Assuming a single element can keep a different style from the rest, the mode applies document-wide.

Tips

Pick collapse-to-self-closing for more compact output, or expand for compatibility with stricter parsers.
Check the FAQ above if the output doesn't look like what you expected.

XML Syntax Changer