SAX Error – Content is not allowed in prolog

Problem

Working XML via SAX parser, but when it parse some XML file, it prompts following error message :

org.xml.sax.SAXParseException: Content is not allowed in prolog.
	at org.apache.xerces.util.ErrorHandlerWrapper.createSAXParseException(Unknown Source)
	at org.apache.xerces.util.ErrorHandlerWrapper.fatalError(Unknown Source)
	at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLErrorReporter.reportError(Unknown Source)
	//...

Solution

This error message is always caused by the invalid XML content in the beginning element. For example, extra small dot “.” in the beginning of XML element.

Any characters before the “<?xml….” will cause above “org.xml.sax.SAXParseException: Content is not allowed in prolog” error message.

A small dot “.” before the “<?xml….

.<?xml version="1.0"?>
<company>
	<staff>
		<firstname>yong</firstname>
		<lastname>mook kim</lastname>
		<nickname>mkyong</nickname>
		<salary>100000</salary>
	</staff>
	<staff>
		<firstname>low</firstname>
		<lastname>yin fong</lastname>
		<nickname>fong fong</nickname>
		<salary>200000</salary>
	</staff>
</company>

To fix it, just delete all those weird characters before the “<?xml“.

Tags : java xml

mkyong

Founder of Mkyong.com, love Java and open source stuffs. Follow him on Twitter, or befriend him on Facebook or Google Plus.

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public static void main(String[] args) { String p_message = "<?xml version=\"1.0\"?>"+ "<!DOCTYPE FCCGENERIC SYSTEM \"./FCCGENERIC.DTD\">"+ "<FCCGENERIC>"+ "<REPLY_ACK>"+ "<REQ_TYPE>UPLOAD_PMNT</REQ_TYPE>"+ "<XREF>406550133038787</XREF>"+ "</REPLY_ACK>"+ "</FCCGENERIC>"; DOMParser domParser = null; Document xmlDocument; Element documentElement; StringReader l_reader = null; InputSource l_in_source = null; if (domParser == null) { domParser = new DOMParser (); } try { l_reader = new StringReader (p_message); l_in_source = new InputSource (l_reader); domParser.parse (l_in_source); l_reader.close (); xmlDocument = domParser.getDocument (); documentElement = xmlDocument.getDocumentElement (); } finally { try { l_reader.close (); } catch (Exception e1) { } l_reader = null; l_in_source = null; }

import java.io.*; import javax.xml.parsers.SAXParser; import javax.xml.parsers.SAXParserFactory; import org.xml.sax.Attributes; import org.xml.sax.SAXException; import org.xml.sax.helpers.DefaultHandler; public class SurveyParser { public static void main(String[] args) { try { InputStream xmlInput = new FileInputStream("C:/Users/kumarap/sampleData2.xml"); System.out.println(xmlInput.read()); SAXParserFactory factory = SAXParserFactory.newInstance(); SAXParser saxParser = factory.newSAXParser(); SaxHandler handler = new SaxHandler(); if(xmlInput.available() > 0){ saxParser.parse(xmlInput, handler); //Let's print the values System.out.println(handler.getSurveyMeta().toString()); } }catch (Exception e) { e.printStackTrace(); } } }

chitra April 1, 2013 at 8:33 pm
U r really genious man, what ever im searching for, im getting from u only, thanks guru

Vishal December 10, 2012 at 4:48 pm

I am facing the same issue. XML is below,

Vishal December 10, 2012 at 4:49 pm

&lt;?xml version=&quot;1.0&quot;?&gt;
&lt;!DOCTYPE FCCFT SYSTEM &quot;./FCCFT.DTD&quot;&gt;
&lt;FCCFT&gt;
&lt;/FCCFT&gt;

Vishal December 10, 2012 at 4:54 pm

public static void main(String[] args) {
	String p_message = &quot;&lt;?xml version=\&quot;1.0\&quot;?&gt;&quot;+
			&quot;&lt;!DOCTYPE FCCGENERIC SYSTEM \&quot;./FCCGENERIC.DTD\&quot;&gt;&quot;+
			&quot;&lt;FCCGENERIC&gt;&quot;+
				&quot;&lt;REPLY_ACK&gt;&quot;+
				    &quot;&lt;REQ_TYPE&gt;UPLOAD_PMNT&lt;/REQ_TYPE&gt;&quot;+
				    &quot;&lt;XREF&gt;406550133038787&lt;/XREF&gt;&quot;+
				&quot;&lt;/REPLY_ACK&gt;&quot;+
			&quot;&lt;/FCCGENERIC&gt;&quot;;
	DOMParser domParser = null;
	Document  xmlDocument;
	Element documentElement;
	StringReader	l_reader 	= null;
	InputSource	l_in_source	= null;
 
	if (domParser == null) {		
	domParser	= new DOMParser ();
	}
 
	try {
	l_reader	= new StringReader (p_message);
	l_in_source = new InputSource (l_reader);
	domParser.parse (l_in_source);
	l_reader.close ();
	xmlDocument		= domParser.getDocument ();
	documentElement	= xmlDocument.getDocumentElement ();
} finally {
	try {
	l_reader.close ();
} catch (Exception e1) {
}
	l_reader	= null;
	l_in_source	= null;
}

vijay January 2, 2013 at 8:06 pm
awesome wasted almost half an hour for this silly typing mistake..

apoorva September 12, 2012 at 12:46 am
Hi Mkyong,
I am facing the same error. I check my xml file to ensure that it doesn’t contain any invalid characters but I am still facing the same error. Here is my xml file content:
<?xml version="1.0" ?> <survey> </survey>
And following is the java code I am using
import java.io.*; import javax.xml.parsers.SAXParser; import javax.xml.parsers.SAXParserFactory; import org.xml.sax.Attributes; import org.xml.sax.SAXException; import org.xml.sax.helpers.DefaultHandler; public class SurveyParser { public static void main(String[] args) { try { InputStream xmlInput = new FileInputStream("C:/Users/kumarap/sampleData2.xml"); System.out.println(xmlInput.read()); SAXParserFactory factory = SAXParserFactory.newInstance(); SAXParser saxParser = factory.newSAXParser(); SaxHandler handler = new SaxHandler(); if(xmlInput.available() > 0){ saxParser.parse(xmlInput, handler); //Let's print the values System.out.println(handler.getSurveyMeta().toString()); } }catch (Exception e) { e.printStackTrace(); } } }
And the stack trace of exception is:
org.xml.sax.SAXParseException: Content is not allowed in prolog.
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.util.ErrorHandlerWrapper.createSAXParseException(ErrorHandlerWrapper.java:195)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.util.ErrorHandlerWrapper.fatalError(ErrorHandlerWrapper.java:174)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLErrorReporter.reportError(XMLErrorReporter.java:388)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLScanner.reportFatalError(XMLScanner.java:1411)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentScannerImpl$PrologDriver.next(XMLDocumentScannerImpl.java:1017)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentScannerImpl.next(XMLDocumentScannerImpl.java:645)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.scanDocument(XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.java:508)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(XML11Configuration.java:807)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(XML11Configuration.java:737)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XMLParser.parse(XMLParser.java:107)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.parse(AbstractSAXParser.java:1205)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.jaxp.SAXParserImpl$JAXPSAXParser.parse(SAXParserImpl.java:522)
at javax.xml.parsers.SAXParser.parse(SAXParser.java:395)
at javax.xml.parsers.SAXParser.parse(SAXParser.java:198)
at com.ec.barometer.porting.SurveyParser.main(SurveyParser.java:25)
- Ledostuff November 8, 2012 at 12:24 pm
  It helps maybe
  http://www.rgagnon.com/javadetails/java-handle-utf8-file-with-bom.html

SAX Error – Content is not allowed in prolog

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