1. < data , programming > One of the items of data in an array .
2. One kind of node in an SGML , HTML , or XML document tree . An SGML element is typically represented by a start tag ("
") and an end tag ("
"). In some SGML implementations, some tags are omissible, as with "
" in HTML .
The start tag can contain attributes ("
"), which are an unordered set of key-value bindings for that element. Both the start tag and end tag for an element typically contain the "tag name" (also called the " GI " or generic identifier) for that element.
In XML , an element is always represented either by an explicit start tag and end tag, or by an empty element tag (" ").
Other kinds of SGML node are: a section of character data ("foo"), a comment (" "), a markup declaration (" "), or a processing instruction (" ").
(2001-01-30)