jQuery jQuery.parseXML() Method

What You’ll Learn

The jQuery.parseXML() utility converts a well-formed XML string into an XMLDocument you can traverse with jQuery. This tutorial covers the official RSS demo, reading and updating nodes with .find() and .text(), comparisons with DOMParser, and pairing with jQuery.isXMLDoc().

Introduction

Not all server responses are JSON or HTML. RSS feeds, Atom documents, SOAP envelopes, and configuration files often arrive as XML text. Before you can read a <title> or <item> node, that string must become a parseable document tree.

jQuery added jQuery.parseXML() (also written $.parseXML()) in version 1.5. It delegates to the browser’s native XML parser and returns an XMLDocument. Wrap it with $() and you get the familiar jQuery traversal API on XML nodes — the pattern shown in the official jQuery documentation.

Understanding the jQuery.parseXML() Method

jQuery.parseXML(data) accepts one argument: a string containing well-formed XML. It returns an XMLDocument — the same type of object you get from DOM APIs when loading XML. The string is not inserted into your HTML page automatically; you query or mutate the document, then optionally copy results into the visible DOM.

XML syntax is stricter than HTML: tags must close properly, attribute quotes matter, and document structure follows XML rules. Once parsed, jQuery methods like .find(), .text(), and .attr() work on the wrapped document much like they do on HTML.

📝 Syntax

General form of jQuery.parseXML:

jQuery.parseXML( data )
// or
$.parseXML( data )

Parameters

• data — a string containing well-formed XML to parse.

Return value

• An XMLDocument object created by the browser’s native XML parser.

Official jQuery API workflow

var xml = '<rss><channel><title>RSS Title</title></channel></rss>';
var xmlDoc = $.parseXML(xml);
var $xml = $(xmlDoc);
var $title = $xml.find("title");
console.log($title.text()); // "RSS Title"

Examples Gallery

Example 1 follows the official jQuery API RSS demo. Use DevTools or the Try-it links to run each snippet.

var xml =
  '<rss version="2.0"><channel><title>RSS Title</title></channel></rss>';

var xmlDoc = $.parseXML(xml);
var $xml = $(xmlDoc);
var $title = $xml.find("title");

console.log($title.text()); // "RSS Title"

RSS Title

var xml =
  '<rss><channel><title>RSS Title</title></channel></rss>';

var $title = $($.parseXML(xml)).find("title");

console.log("Before:", $title.text());
$title.text("XML Title");
console.log("After:", $title.text());

Before: RSS Title
After: XML Title

var xml =
  '<rss><channel>' +
  '<item><title>Post A</title></item>' +
  '<item><title>Post B</title></item>' +
  '</channel></rss>';

var $xml = $($.parseXML(xml));
var titles = [];

$xml.find("item > title").each(function () {
  titles.push($(this).text());
});

console.log(titles.join(" | ")); // Post A | Post B

Post A | Post B

var xml = '<root><name>CodeToFun</name></root>';

var withJquery = $($.parseXML(xml)).find("name").text();

var withNative = new DOMParser()
  .parseFromString(xml, "text/xml")
  .getElementsByTagName("name")[0].textContent;

console.log(withJquery); // CodeToFun
console.log(withNative); // CodeToFun

CodeToFun
CodeToFun

var xmlDoc = $.parseXML('<root/>');
var xmlNode = xmlDoc.documentElement;
var htmlNode = document.body;

console.log($.isXMLDoc(xmlNode));  // true
console.log($.isXMLDoc(htmlNode)); // false

true
false

🚀 Common Use Cases

• RSS / Atom feeds — parse syndication XML from AJAX responses.
• SOAP / XML APIs — read tagged fields from legacy web services.
• Config documents — load XML settings files at runtime.
• SVG as string — parse SVG markup before inserting into the page.
• Cross-browser XML — consistent entry point in older jQuery projects.
• Plugin development — branch on $.isXMLDoc() for mixed DOM input.

📝 Notes

• Available since jQuery 1.5; still supported in jQuery 3.x.
• Requires well-formed XML — HTML-style loose markup will fail or produce parser errors.
• Malformed XML may yield a document with a parsererror node instead of throwing.
• Namespaces affect selector behavior — RSS without prefixes usually works with simple tag names.
• Pair with jQuery.isXMLDoc() when code handles both HTML and XML nodes.
• For JSON APIs, use JSON.parse() — not parseXML.

💡 Best Practices