# Formatting REXML **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [September 15, 2009, 9:49am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/formatting-rexml/175533 "2009-09-15T09:49:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![scrajesh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@scrajesh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/scrajesh)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 9:49am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/formatting-rexml/175533/1 "2009-09-15T09:49:30Z")
Hey all, I posted a question on StackOverflow the other day that I thought would be reasonably easy to answer, but actually, I got nothin’, zilch, nada. Rather than repeat the question here, here’s the link: [http://bit.ly/tN7FK](http://bit.ly/tN7FK) I don’t mind if there’s a way of formatting the XML with something other than REXML - whatever achieves the result is good with me. Any help would be really welcome as I’ve spend _ages_ now trying to do this one stupid thing. Many thanks, Charles ---
**Author:** ![scrajesh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@scrajesh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/scrajesh)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 9:56am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/formatting-rexml/175533/2 "2009-09-15T09:56:32Z")
2009/9/15 Charles R. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid): > really welcome as I’ve spend _ages_ now trying to do this one stupid thing. > [Module: REXML::Formatters](http://www.germane-software.com/software/XML/rexml/doc/classes/REXML/Formatters.html) robert ---
**Author:** ![scrajesh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@scrajesh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/scrajesh)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 10:11am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/formatting-rexml/175533/3 "2009-09-15T10:11:45Z")
On 15/09/2009 08:55, Robert K. wrote: > [Module: REXML::Formatters](http://www.germane-software.com/software/XML/rexml/doc/classes/REXML/Formatters.html) > > robert Hi Robert, thanks for the link. I have already spent quite some time looking over these formatters and I just can’t seem to get the formatting I want. It’s probably me being stupid, but I can’t see how to get the result I want. I want the last 3 lines to look like this: gutter #282828 But I can only get this: gutter#282828 or this: gutter #282828 Many thanks. Charles ---
**Author:** ![scrajesh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@scrajesh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/scrajesh)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 12:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/formatting-rexml/175533/4 "2009-09-15T12:28:07Z")
2009/9/15 Charles R. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid): > or this: > > gutter #282828 Bte, your XML is invalid. The opening tag is missing. And, apparently you did not read the docs properly: irb(main):143:0\> d = REXML::Document.new “gutter#282828” =\> … \ irb(main):144:0\> f=REXML::Formatters::Pretty.new =\> #\ irb(main):145:0\> f.compact=true =\> true irb(main):146:0\> puts f.write(d.root,“”) gutter #282828 =\> nil irb(main):147:0\> Cheers robert ---
**Author:** ![scrajesh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@scrajesh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/scrajesh)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/formatting-rexml/175533/5 "2009-09-15T18:32:52Z")
On Sep 15, 2009, at 12:48 AM, Charles R. wrote: > help would be really welcome as I’ve spend _ages_ now trying to do > this one stupid thing. FTFY require ‘rubygems’ require ‘nokogiri’ doc = Nokogiri::XML(DATA.read) { |cfg| cfg.noblanks } Nokogiri::XML::Builder.new do |xml| xml.doc = doc xml.parent = doc.at(‘dict’) xml.key(‘gutter’) xml.string(‘#282828’) end puts doc.to\_xml **END** background #FFFFFF caret #000000 foreground #000000 invisibles #BFBFBF lineHighlight #00000012 selection #BAD6FD Doesn’t use REXML, but does output the formatting you want. Hope that helps! * * * Aaron P. [http://tenderlovemaking.com](http://tenderlovemaking.com) ---
**Author:** ![scrajesh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@scrajesh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/scrajesh)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/formatting-rexml/175533/6 "2009-09-16T19:50:13Z")
Aaron P. wrote: > [Nokogiri] doesn’t use REXML, but does output the formatting you want. Hope that > helps! Nokogiri looks super-nice. Much simpler than REXML from an initial glance. I’m going to have a play with it shortly. Already loving the CSS3 selectors which, for me, coming from a design background, are so much easier to grok than XPath. Although having said that, I was kind of getting into XPath since I started playing around with REXML. Cool how you can mix-and-match in Nokigiri. Thanks for the head-up! Cheers, Charles ---
**Author:** ![scrajesh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@scrajesh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/scrajesh)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/formatting-rexml/175533/7 "2009-09-16T19:37:21Z")
Robert K. wrote: > 2009/9/15 Charles R. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid): > Bte, your XML is invalid. The opening tag is missing. Yeah, sorry, I didn’t give terribly clear background infomation. That XML I posted was just a snippet from a full XML document. Example: [http://pastie.org/619068](http://pastie.org/619068) I didn’t paste the whole thing because I didn’t want to clutter the post too much. Sorry for not explaining that more clearly. 🙂 > irb(main):146:0\> puts f.write(d.root,“”) Awesome, this gave me the clue I needed. I was doing this: puts out.write(tmtheme,“”) Whereas I needed to do this: puts out.write(tmtheme.root,“”) Bingo! Thanks for your help Robert, it is very much appreciated. Cheers, Charles