# Fastest ruby xml parser -- FreeBSD 6.2

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fastest-ruby-xml-parser-freebsd-6-2/112088>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [August 15, 2007, 5:32am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fastest-ruby-xml-parser-freebsd-6-2/112088 "2007-08-15T05:32:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![charlie\_caroff](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@charlie\_caroff](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/charlie_caroff)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 5:32am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fastest-ruby-xml-parser-freebsd-6-2/112088/1 "2007-08-15T05:32:33Z")

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Hi,

I’m trying to find the fastest XML parser for FreeBSD 6.2. I tried to  
install the gem for libxml, but it doesn’t install on FreeBSD 6.2. I  
also tried the FreeBSD port for libxml-ruby, but it appears to be very  
buggy.

I’m taking several xml feeds, 100k or less, parsing them, and putting  
them into a database. rexml is slow. The word on the net is to use a  
C parser – is there a good one I can use, with understandable  
documentation for a newbie?

Thanks,

Charlie

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**Author:** ![charlie\_caroff](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@charlie\_caroff](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/charlie_caroff)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 11:16am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fastest-ruby-xml-parser-freebsd-6-2/112088/2 "2007-08-15T11:16:57Z")

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Hi, please define what you mean by slow. What times are you seeing  
during  
the parsing of the XML?

-Conrad

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**Author:** ![charlie\_caroff](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@charlie\_caroff](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/charlie_caroff)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 2:36pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fastest-ruby-xml-parser-freebsd-6-2/112088/3 "2007-08-15T14:36:26Z")

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charlie caroff wrote:

> documentation for a newbie?  
> You could try Hpricot.

–  
Michael W.

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**Author:** ![charlie\_caroff](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@charlie\_caroff](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/charlie_caroff)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 5:41pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fastest-ruby-xml-parser-freebsd-6-2/112088/4 "2007-08-15T17:41:05Z")

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Conrad T. wrote:

> ```
> Thanks,
> 
> Charlie
> 
> ```

I use the expat library - one of the samples that comes with the code is  
simple enough to extend if you know C. My suggestion would be to parse  
off the XML quickly and convert it into another format that can then be  
used by your Ruby code.

It would be good if you could explain how often you need to do this and  
if it’s only in the backend or in response to a user-loaded XML file.

Cheers,  
Mohit.  
8/15/2007 | 11:39 PM.

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**Author:** ![charlie\_caroff](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@charlie\_caroff](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/charlie_caroff)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 4:17pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fastest-ruby-xml-parser-freebsd-6-2/112088/5 "2007-08-15T16:17:39Z")

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Hpricot is extremely slow on large documents (\> 50 MB) but should work  
fast on the size you are looking at. libxml would still be the  
fastest option if you get it working (I had to strip all tags from the  
root node to get it working for me, but I am dealing with 5-10 GB  
files so I had no other choice but to go with libxml-ruby).

Craig