Why FOR XML PATH does not escape " or ' but does < or > or &

Question

Hi there.

I am puzzled by this behavior

SELECT

 v.sc as [data()]

FROM (VALUES

 ('"'  , '"')

,('''' , ''')

,('<'  , '&lt;')

,('>'  , '&gt;')

,('&'  , '&amp;')

) v (sc, sce)

FOR XML PATH(''), TYPE

The result: " ' < > &
I am expecting: " ' < > &

Any reason?

How to make it entitize values properly?

Is this a bug?

Thank you.

Have a great day.

Answer 1

Xml does not require single quote to be quoted. XML only require quoting of double quotes when the double quote is in an attribute value.

<root v="this require quoted double quote(&quot;)">double quote ok (")<root>