This chapter is from the book
1.4 Attributes and namespaces
prefix:localname='value' prefix:localname="value"
Attribute names are QNames. The namespace of an attribute with a given prefix is the namespace specified by the in-scope namespace declaration for that prefix. It is an error if no such namespace declaration is in scope. Unprefixed attributes are not in any namespace even if a default namespace declaration is in scope.
Examples
Qualified attributes
<Person xmlns='urn:example-org:People' xmlns:b='urn:example-org:People:base' xmlns:u='urn:example-org:units' > <name>Martin</name> <age b:base='10' u:units='years' >33</age> </Person>
An attribute with a local name of base in the namespace urn:example-org:People:base and an attribute with a local name of units in the namespace urn:example-org:units
Unqualified attributes
<Person xmlns='urn:example-org:People' > <name>Martin</name> <age base='10' units='years' >33</age> </Person>
Attributes that are in no namespace, even though a default namespace declaration is in scope