Home >Web Front-end >JS Tutorial >Why Split the `` Tag in `document.write()` Calls?
The primary reason for splitting tags is due to an interesting behavior in SGML, the markup language that underlies HTML. According to SGML, script blocks are terminated by any "end-tag open" (ETAGO) sequence, including
If the tag were not split, it would prematurely end the enclosing <script></script> block. To prevent this, developers must split the tag and place the between the < and /.
Browser Compatibility and XHTML Considerations:
Splitting the tag also addresses browser compatibility issues. While browsers generally parse HTML as CDATA, treating any as an end-tag open delimiter, they only terminate script blocks on an actual tag.
In XHTML, where script blocks are not treated specially, all unescaped < characters must be escaped using &. However, this can lead to confusion when browsers parse XHTML as HTML. Splitting the tag ensures compatibility with both types of parsers.
Alternative Approaches:
While splitting tags within document.write() is a common practice, it is not the only option. A more elegant solution is to encode the entire