diff --git a/src/encoding/xml/marshal.go b/src/encoding/xml/marshal.go
index 37b0dcb3c9..d393d0610b 100644
--- a/src/encoding/xml/marshal.go
+++ b/src/encoding/xml/marshal.go
@@ -19,8 +19,7 @@ const (
 	// Header is a generic XML header suitable for use with the output of Marshal.
 	// This is not automatically added to any output of this package,
 	// it is provided as a convenience.
-	Header             = `<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>` + "\n"
-	xmlNamespacePrefix = "xml"
+	Header = `<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>` + "\n"
 )
 
 // Marshal returns the XML encoding of v.
@@ -324,7 +323,7 @@ func (p *printer) createAttrPrefix(url string) string {
 	// (The "http://www.w3.org/2000/xmlns/" name space is also predefined as "xmlns",
 	// but users should not be trying to use that one directly - that's our job.)
 	if url == xmlURL {
-		return xmlNamespacePrefix
+		return xmlPrefix
 	}
 
 	// Need to define a new name space.
diff --git a/src/encoding/xml/xml.go b/src/encoding/xml/xml.go
index 7556d4b876..f408623de5 100644
--- a/src/encoding/xml/xml.go
+++ b/src/encoding/xml/xml.go
@@ -338,6 +338,7 @@ func (d *Decoder) Token() (Token, error) {
 const (
 	xmlURL      = "http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace"
 	xmlnsPrefix = "xmlns"
+	xmlPrefix   = "xml"
 )
 
 // Apply name space translation to name n.
@@ -349,7 +350,7 @@ func (d *Decoder) translate(n *Name, isElementName bool) {
 		return
 	case n.Space == "" && !isElementName:
 		return
-	case n.Space == xmlNamespacePrefix:
+	case n.Space == xmlPrefix:
 		n.Space = xmlURL
 	case n.Space == "" && n.Local == xmlnsPrefix:
 		return