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# xmlData

Returns the XML string representation of the receiver—that is, the entire document—encapsulated in a data object.

```
var xmlData: Data { get }
```

## Discussion

This method invokes [`xmlData(options:)`](/documentation/Foundation/XMLDocument/xmlData(options:)) with an option of `NSXMLNodeOptionsNone`. The encoding used is based on the value returned from [`characterEncoding`](/documentation/Foundation/XMLDocument/characterEncoding) or UTF-8 if no valid encoding is returned by that method.

---

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