Title: RSS feed will not validate
Last modified: August 20, 2016

---

# RSS feed will not validate

 *  Resolved [marcum502](https://wordpress.org/support/users/marcum502/)
 * (@marcum502)
 * [13 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-will-not-validate/)
 * I am using a child theme of twentyeleven and cannot seem to get my rss feed to
   validate. Everytime I try I get:
 * “Error parsing RSS XML: Not a valid xml document: Unexpected XML declaration.
   The XML declaration must be the first node in the document, and no white space
   characters are allowed to appear before it. Line 5, position 3. “
 * this is line 5:
 * `<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>`
 * any thoughts?

Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

 *  [Rev. Voodoo](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rvoodoo/)
 * (@rvoodoo)
 * [13 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-will-not-validate/#post-3160118)
 * Is that the first line of your feed?
 * I mean, I know it’s line 5, but is it preceded by blank lines? That would throw
   an error
 *  Thread Starter [marcum502](https://wordpress.org/support/users/marcum502/)
 * (@marcum502)
 * [13 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-will-not-validate/#post-3160119)
 * yes it is. there are 4 blank lines above it. What file do i need to go touch 
   make those 4 lines go away (never had this particular issue before)
 *  [Rev. Voodoo](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rvoodoo/)
 * (@rvoodoo)
 * [13 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-will-not-validate/#post-3160120)
 * Gotta pinpoint the source. TYry switching to 2011 theme to test your feed. If
   the problem reolves, it is a theme issue, in which you would want to look at 
   your specific theme.
 * Since you have a child theme, do you use aheader.php file? If not, functions.
   php is the likely culprit.
 * If switching themes doesn’t fix it, try deactivating all plugins. Those are the
   usual culprit in such cases.
 * Once you pinpoint, it’s easier to approach the fix.
 *  Thread Starter [marcum502](https://wordpress.org/support/users/marcum502/)
 * (@marcum502)
 * [13 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-will-not-validate/#post-3160121)
 * a do have a header.php and a functions.php file in the child theme. I will start
   there and see if that takes care of the issue, then move to plugins. Thanks, 
   I will let you know how it goes.
 *  Thread Starter [marcum502](https://wordpress.org/support/users/marcum502/)
 * (@marcum502)
 * [13 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-will-not-validate/#post-3160126)
 * switched to twenty eleven and the feed validated (and a bunch of my plugins lost
   their settings when I went back to my child theme…lame)
 * So now I have to figure out where in the child theme the problem is. It is not
   a very complicated child them with minimal changes to functions. This should 
   be fun.
 *  Thread Starter [marcum502](https://wordpress.org/support/users/marcum502/)
 * (@marcum502)
 * [13 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-will-not-validate/#post-3160134)
 * removing blank lines in my functions.php file got it to validate in a desktop
   reader (SharpReader)
    But feedburner still hates it…
 *  Thread Starter [marcum502](https://wordpress.org/support/users/marcum502/)
 * (@marcum502)
 * [13 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-will-not-validate/#post-3160153)
 * Huh…Google reader sees it just fine as well. Is there any reason that feedburner
   would be picky?
 *  Thread Starter [marcum502](https://wordpress.org/support/users/marcum502/)
 * (@marcum502)
 * [13 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-will-not-validate/#post-3160163)
 * alright…Got it. Looks like i just had extra white space in my files. Deleted 
   it all and all is working.
 * Thanks!
 *  [Rev. Voodoo](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rvoodoo/)
 * (@rvoodoo)
 * [13 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-will-not-validate/#post-3160184)
 * I stepped out for a bit … but looks like you got it sorted in my absense!
 * Not sure why any of your plugins would lose settings on a theme switch… that’s
   no fun!

Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

The topic ‘RSS feed will not validate’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 9 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [Rev. Voodoo](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rvoodoo/)
 * Last activity: [13 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-will-not-validate/#post-3160184)
 * Status: resolved

## Topics

### Topics with no replies

### Non-support topics

### Resolved topics

### Unresolved topics

### All topics