diff --git a/spring-restdocs-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/XmlContentHandler.java b/spring-restdocs-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/XmlContentHandler.java
index 89b0aecf..79801373 100644
--- a/spring-restdocs-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/XmlContentHandler.java
+++ b/spring-restdocs-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/XmlContentHandler.java
@@ -116,7 +116,6 @@ class XmlContentHandler implements ContentHandler {
 			}
 			for (int i = 0; i < matchingNodes.getLength(); i++) {
 				Node node = matchingNodes.item(i);
-
 				if (node.getNodeType() == Node.ATTRIBUTE_NODE) {
 					Attr attr = (Attr) node;
 					attr.getOwnerElement().removeAttributeNode(attr);
diff --git a/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/ResponseFieldsSnippetTests.java b/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/ResponseFieldsSnippetTests.java
index 72048301..ad6653d3 100644
--- a/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/ResponseFieldsSnippetTests.java
+++ b/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/ResponseFieldsSnippetTests.java
@@ -192,22 +192,78 @@ public class ResponseFieldsSnippetTests {
 						.header(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE, MediaType.APPLICATION_XML_VALUE)
 						.build());
 	}
-	
+
 	@Test
-	public void undocumentedXmlWithAttributeResponseField() throws IOException {
-		this.thrown.expect(SnippetException.class);
-		this.thrown
-				.expectMessage(equalTo("The following parts of the payload were not"
-						+ " documented:\r\n<a>\r\n    <b>5</b>\r\n</a>\r\n"));
-		new ResponseFieldsSnippet(Arrays.asList(new FieldDescriptor("/a/b/@id").type("").description("")))
-				.document(new OperationBuilder("undocumented-xml-response-field",
-						this.snippet.getOutputDirectory())
+	public void xmlAttribute() throws IOException {
+		this.snippet.expectResponseFields("xml-attribute").withContents(
+				tableWithHeader("Path", "Type", "Description").row("a", "b", "one").row(
+						"a/@id", "c", "two"));
+		new ResponseFieldsSnippet(Arrays.asList(fieldWithPath("a").description("one")
+				.type("b"), fieldWithPath("a/@id").description("two").type("c")))
+				.document(new OperationBuilder("xml-attribute", this.snippet
+						.getOutputDirectory())
 						.response()
-						.content("<a><b id=\"1\">5</b></a>")
+						.content("<a id=\"1\">foo</a>")
 						.header(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE, MediaType.APPLICATION_XML_VALUE)
 						.build());
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void missingXmlAttribute() throws IOException {
+		this.thrown.expect(SnippetException.class);
+		this.thrown
+				.expectMessage(equalTo("Fields with the following paths were not found"
+						+ " in the payload: [a/@id]"));
+		new ResponseFieldsSnippet(Arrays.asList(fieldWithPath("a").description("one")
+				.type("b"), fieldWithPath("a/@id").description("two").type("c")))
+				.document(new OperationBuilder("missing-xml-attribute", this.snippet
+						.getOutputDirectory())
+						.response()
+						.content("<a>foo</a>")
+						.header(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE, MediaType.APPLICATION_XML_VALUE)
+						.build());
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void missingOptionalXmlAttribute() throws IOException {
+		this.snippet.expectResponseFields("missing-optional-xml-attribute").withContents(
+				tableWithHeader("Path", "Type", "Description").row("a", "b", "one").row(
+						"a/@id", "c", "two"));
+		new ResponseFieldsSnippet(Arrays.asList(fieldWithPath("a").description("one")
+				.type("b"), fieldWithPath("a/@id").description("two").type("c")
+				.optional())).document(new OperationBuilder(
+				"missing-optional-xml-attribute", this.snippet.getOutputDirectory())
+				.response().content("<a>foo</a>")
+				.header(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE, MediaType.APPLICATION_XML_VALUE)
+				.build());
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void undocumentedAttributeDoesNotCauseFailure() throws IOException {
+		this.snippet.expectResponseFields("undocumented-attribute").withContents(
+				tableWithHeader("Path", "Type", "Description").row("a", "a", "one"));
+		new ResponseFieldsSnippet(Arrays.asList(fieldWithPath("a").description("one")
+				.type("a"))).document(new OperationBuilder("undocumented-attribute",
+				this.snippet.getOutputDirectory()).response()
+				.content("<a id=\"foo\">bar</a>")
+				.header(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE, MediaType.APPLICATION_XML_VALUE)
+				.build());
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void documentedXmlAttributesAreRemoved() throws IOException {
+		this.thrown.expect(SnippetException.class);
+		this.thrown.expectMessage(equalTo(String
+				.format("The following parts of the payload were not documented:"
+						+ "%n<a>bar</a>%n")));
+		new ResponseFieldsSnippet(Arrays.asList(fieldWithPath("a/@id").description("one")
+				.type("a"))).document(new OperationBuilder(
+				"documented-attribute-is-removed", this.snippet.getOutputDirectory())
+				.response().content("<a id=\"foo\">bar</a>")
+				.header(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE, MediaType.APPLICATION_XML_VALUE)
+				.build());
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	public void xmlResponseFieldWithNoType() throws IOException {
 		this.thrown.expect(FieldTypeRequiredException.class);