# Read a xml file **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [November 23, 2007, 2:14pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/read-a-xml-file/121073 "2007-11-23T14:14:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mihai](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@mihai](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mihai)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 2:14pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/read-a-xml-file/121073/1 "2007-11-23T14:14:44Z")
hello, im new in using rexml and a i have a first question: how can a read this file: i want to read all children so that output will be something like that: drive C folder folder1 subfolder sub1 subfolder sub2 file file1 file file2 subfoler sub3 folder folder2 file file1 file file2 How can i do that?, Tnx ---
**Author:** ![mihai](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@mihai](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mihai)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 2:34pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/read-a-xml-file/121073/2 "2007-11-23T14:34:39Z")
On Nov 23, 2007, at 7:14 AM, Bulhac M. wrote: > hello, im new in using rexml and a i have a first question: how can a > read this file: > > > > […] I’d use xml-simple. % gem install xml-simple Then a program like this: require ‘xmlsimple’ require ‘pp’ pp XmlSimple.xml\_in(‘xml.xml’) will produce this structure of hashes and arrays: {“name”=\>“c”, “folder”=\> [{“name”=\>“folder1”, “subfolder”=\> [{“name”=\>“sub1”, “content”=\>"\n “}, {“name”=\>“sub2”, “file”=\>[{“name”=\>“file1”}, {“name”=\>“file2”}]}, {“name”=\>“sub3”, “file”=\>[{“name”=\>“file1”}]}]}, {“name”=\>“folder2”, “file”=\> [{“name”=\>“file1”, “content”=\>”\n “}, {“name”=\>“file2”, “content”=\>”\n "}]}]} You can customize the printing to suit your taste. There are different options to xml-simple that let you control the array/hash structure that gets generated. * * * Brian M., independent consultant Mostly on agile methods with a testing slant [www.exampler.com](http://www.exampler.com), [Exploration Through Example](http://www.exampler.com/blog), [twitter.com/marick](http://twitter.com/marick) ---
**Author:** ![mihai](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@mihai](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mihai)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 2:38pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/read-a-xml-file/121073/3 "2007-11-23T14:38:42Z")
but i want to read that structure of file; i did try with rexml and i havent figure it out yet ---
**Author:** ![mihai](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@mihai](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mihai)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 3:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/read-a-xml-file/121073/4 "2007-11-23T15:39:42Z")
Hi, On 23-Nov-07, at 8:14 AM, Bulhac M. wrote: > folder folder2 file file1 file file2 > > How can i do that?, Tnx You’re going to have to work out which ‘parser’ you want to use. I think there are three in REXML: DOM, SAX, and a pull parser. Choosing the parser to use is a little tricky, and will depend on what you plan to do with the parsed XML file. FWIW, I tend to use either my own pull parser or libxml. With my thing, xampl-pp (a pull parser), installed as a gem, you’d write this as: require “xampl-pp” def format(filename) xpp = Xampl\_PP.new xpp.input = File.new(filename) loop do case xpp.nextEvent when Xampl\_PP::START\_ELEMENT print " " \* (xpp.depth - 1) print xpp.name xpp.attributeValue.each { | v | print " #{ v }" } print “\n” when Xampl\_PP::END\_DOCUMENT break end end end format(“./test.xml”) And you’d get exactly the output you wanted. This is such a simple use of the parser that it is hard to choose between them. Cheers, Bob > – > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/). * * * Bob H. – tumblelog at [http://www.recursive.ca/so/](http://www.recursive.ca/so/) Recursive Design Inc. – weblog at [http://www.recursive.ca/hutch](http://www.recursive.ca/hutch) [http://www.recursive.ca/](http://www.recursive.ca/) – works on [http://www.raconteur.info/cms-for-static-content/home/](http://www.raconteur.info/cms-for-static-content/home/) ---
**Author:** ![mihai](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@mihai](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mihai)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 7:16pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/read-a-xml-file/121073/5 "2007-11-23T19:16:14Z")
On Nov 23, 6:14 am, Bulhac M. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > ``` > > > ``` > > file file1 file file2 Note that I had to fix your XML - you were missing a closing tag for one of your files. def show\_item( rexml\_element, level=0 ) print " "\*level puts “#{rexml\_element.name} #{rexml\_element.attributes[‘name’]}” rexml\_element.elements.each{ |el| show\_item( el, level+1 ) } end require ‘rexml/document’ doc = REXML::Document.new( DATA.read ) show\_item( doc.root ) **END** ---
**Author:** ![mihai](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@mihai](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mihai)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 7:25pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/read-a-xml-file/121073/6 "2007-11-23T19:25:36Z")
On Nov 23, 6:14 am, Bulhac M. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > ``` > > > ``` > > file file1 file file2 Note that if your XML is properly indented already, you don’t even need an XML parser for this particular task: source = DATA.read # remove explicit closing elements source.gsub! %r{\}, ‘’ # remove empty lines source.gsub! %r{^[\t]+\n}, ‘’ # convert tags to desired output source.gsub! /\<(\w+)\s+name=“(.+?)”.+/, ‘\1 \2’ puts source **END**