how to parse xml with special character in sql server

Question

I am getting following error when i add < in my xml,

Msg 9455, Level 16, State 1, Line 6 XML parsing: line 4, character 14, illegal qual

Answer 1

< needs to be specified as < in the XML

W < hite
Blue
Black
Green
Red


Apple
Pineapple
Grapes
Melon

Update:

The characters you need to escape in node values are < => < and & => &.
In attribute values you also need to escape " => " if you use " around your attribute values.

This is a valid XML:

   < > & ' "
  

Try it in a query:

declare @xml xml =
'

   < > & '' "
  

'

select @xml.value('(root/item)[1]', 'varchar(20)') as NodeValue,
       @xml.value('(root/item/@att)[1]', 'varchar(20)') as AttValue

Result:

NodeValue            AttValue
-------------------- --------------------
 < > & ' "            < > & ' "