How to remove all namespaces from XML with C#?

Question

I am looking for the clean, elegant and smart solution to remove namespacees from all XML elements? How would function to do that look like? Defined interface: ``` public interface IXMLUtils { string RemoveAllNamespaces(string xmlDocument); } ``` Sample XML to remove NS from: ``` 0174587 014717 019172

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Some state ``` After we call RemoveAllNamespaces(xmlWithLotOfNs), we should get: `…

Accepted Answer

Well, here is the final answer. I have used great Jimmy idea (which unfortunately is not complete itself) and complete recursion function to work properly.

Based on interface:

```
string RemoveAllNamespaces(string xmlDocument);
```

I represent here final clean and universal C# solution for removing XML namespaces:

```
//Implemented based on interface, not part of algorithm
public static string RemoveAllNamespaces(string xmlDocument)
{
    XElement xmlDocumentWithoutNs = RemoveAllNamespaces(XElement.Parse(xmlDocument));

return xmlDocumentWithoutNs.ToString();
}

//Core recursion function
 private static XElement RemoveAllNamespaces(XElement xmlDocument)
    {
        if (!xmlDocument.HasElements)
        {
            XElement xElement = new XElement(xmlDocument.Name.LocalName);
            xElement.Value = xmlDocument.Value;

foreach (XAttribute attribute in xmlDocument.Attributes())
                xElement.Add(attribute);

return xElement;
        }
        return new XElement(xmlDocument.Name.LocalName, xmlDocument.Elements().Select(el => RemoveAllNamespaces(el)));
    }
```

It's working 100%, but I have not tested it much so it may not cover some special cases... But it is good base to start.

How to remove all namespaces from XML with C#?

Solution

Problem