# Ruby method to strip out XML codes?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-method-to-strip-out-xml-codes/122269>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [December 6, 2007, 2:24am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-method-to-strip-out-xml-codes/122269 "2007-12-06T02:24:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Michael\_WSRyder](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/53a042/32.png) [@Michael\_WSRyder](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Michael_WSRyder)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 2:24am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-method-to-strip-out-xml-codes/122269/1 "2007-12-06T02:24:38Z")

</div>

I am trying to process an XML file that includes various codes. The  
problem I am running into is that some of these codes are inserted into  
the middle of an encrypted string. If I display the file using a  
browser these codes do not show up and copying and pasting the string  
work fine. The problem occurs when I try to strip out the string in a  
program and these “extraneous” XML codes are included. This of course  
makes the decryption routine crash.  
What I am looking for is a simple way to read through the file and  
remove all the XML codes leaving just plain text. I could probably  
write a series of regular expressions to remove each code that I can  
find in my text but am afraid I might miss some and it will come back to  
haunt me at a later time.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Michael\_WSRyder](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/53a042/32.png) [@Michael\_WSRyder](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Michael_WSRyder)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 4:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-method-to-strip-out-xml-codes/122269/2 "2007-12-06T04:23:22Z")

</div>

On Dec 5, 6:13 pm, “Michael W. Ryder” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
wrote:

> find in my text but am afraid I might miss some and it will come back to  
> haunt me at a later time.

str.gsub /\</?[^\>]+\>/, ‘’

This will only be a problem if your XML file is legal and has a CDATA  
section which has a literal \< character (not \<), like:

for ( var i=0, len=a.length; i\<len; ++i )

In that case you likely want a proper XML parser (like REXML) and to  
use it.

Do you really want to remove the XML, or would it suffice to just:

str.gsub! ‘&’, ‘&’  
str.gsub! ‘\<’, ‘\<’  
str.gsub! ‘\>’, ‘\>’  
(and maybe even)  
str.gsub! ‘"’, ‘"’  
str.gsub! “'”, ‘'’

to make your string valid and escaped for use in an HTML context?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Michael\_WSRyder](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/53a042/32.png) [@Michael\_WSRyder](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Michael_WSRyder)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 8:57am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-method-to-strip-out-xml-codes/122269/3 "2007-12-06T08:57:08Z")

</div>

Phrogz wrote:

> > remove all the XML codes leaving just plain text. I could probably
> 
> str.gsub! “’”, ‘’’
> 
> to make your string valid and escaped for use in an HTML context?

My problem is that the XML file includes in the middle of a  
couple of fields, especially in the encrypted fields. If I just strip  
out the encrypted field and try to decrypt it the program crashes as the  
key is invalid. I have to remove the “bad” character strings before  
sending it to my decryption program. I would prefer to do this removal  
before sending the file to my programs so that I don’t have to deal with  
these codes.  
I assume that the string I am seeing is XML’s way of saying CR/LF as DA  
in hex is CR/LF and the output in a browser shows the field being broken  
at that point. The problem is that is only the ones that I have noticed  
and there may be others hiding in the data. The XML file is being  
parsed for conversion to our accounts.