XmlTextWriter.LookupPrefix returns the closest prefix in the current namespace scope
using System; using System.IO; using System.Xml; public class Sample { private const string filename = "sampledata.xml"; public static void Main() { XmlTextWriter writer = new XmlTextWriter (filename, null); writer.Formatting = Formatting.Indented; writer.WriteComment("sample XML fragment"); writer.WriteStartElement("bookstore"); writer.WriteAttributeString("xmlns", "bk", null, "urn:samples"); writer.WriteStartElement("book"); string prefix = writer.LookupPrefix("urn:samples"); writer.WriteStartAttribute(prefix, "ISBN", "urn:samples"); writer.WriteString("1-111111-11"); writer.WriteEndAttribute(); writer.WriteStartElement("title"); writer.WriteString("C#"); writer.WriteEndElement(); writer.WriteElementString("price", "19.95"); writer.WriteStartElement(prefix, "style", "urn:samples"); writer.WriteString("hardcover"); writer.WriteEndElement(); writer.WriteEndElement(); writer.WriteEndElement(); writer.Flush(); writer.Close(); XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument(); doc.PreserveWhitespace = true; doc.Load(filename); Console.Write(doc.InnerXml); } }