Serialize to files, TextWriters, and XmlWriters (LINQ to XML)

You can serialize XML trees to a File, a TextWriter, or an XmlWriter.

You can serialize any XML component, including XDocument and XElement, to a string by using the ToString method.

If you want to suppress formatting when serializing to a string, you can use the XNode.ToString method.

The default behavior when serializing to a file is to format (indent) the resulting XML document. When you indent, the insignificant white space in the XML tree isn't preserved. To serialize with formatting, use one of the overloads of the following methods that don't take SaveOptions as an argument:

• XDocument.Save
• XElement.Save

If you want the option not to indent and to preserve the insignificant white space in the XML tree, use one of the overloads of the following methods that takes SaveOptions as an argument:

• XDocument.Save
• XElement.Save

For examples, see the appropriate reference article.