Why are Scala XML literals sensitive to whitespace between the tags?

Question

I've discovered that Scala XML literals are sensitive to whitespace, which is kinda strange, isn't it? since XML parsers don't normally give a damn about spaces between the tags.

This is a bummer because I'd like to set out my XML neatly in my code:

<sample>
  <hello />
</sample>

but Scala considers this to be a different value to

<sample><hello /></sample>

Proof is in the pudding:

scala> val xml1 = <sample><hello /></sample>
xml1: scala.xml.Elem = <sample><hello></hello></sample>

scala> val xml2 = <sample>
     | <hello />
     | </sample>
xml2: scala.xml.Elem = 
<sample>
<hello></hello>
</sample>

scala> xml1 == <sample><hello /></sample>
res0: Boolean = true

scala> xml1 == xml2
res1: Boolean = false

... What gives?

Answer 1

If you liked it you should have put a trim on it:

scala> val xml1 = <sample><hello /></sample>
xml1: scala.xml.Elem = <sample><hello></hello></sample>

scala> val xml2 = <sample>
     | <hello />
     | </sample>
xml2: scala.xml.Elem = 
<sample>
<hello></hello>
</sample>

scala> xml1 == xml2
res14: Boolean = false

scala> xml.Utility.trim(xml1) == xml.Utility.trim(xml2)
res15: Boolean = true