# Saving to\_xml to a file

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/saving-to-xml-to-a-file/99730>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [July 25, 2006, 5:52am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/saving-to-xml-to-a-file/99730 "2006-07-25T05:52:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sdpurtill](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sdpurtill](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sdpurtill)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 5:52am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/saving-to-xml-to-a-file/99730/1 "2006-07-25T05:52:11Z")

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Ok, one more question…

I can dump the database to xml by doing User.to\_xml

I’m wondering if I can save it to a .xml file. I’m having trouble  
finding documentation on this.

Thanks!!

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**Author:** ![sdpurtill](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sdpurtill](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sdpurtill)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 10:07am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/saving-to-xml-to-a-file/99730/2 "2006-07-25T10:07:13Z")

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Can you even save files using Rails? I haven’t found a way to do it  
yet… Thanks

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**Author:** ![sdpurtill](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sdpurtill](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sdpurtill)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 10:40am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/saving-to-xml-to-a-file/99730/3 "2006-07-25T10:40:26Z")

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Sam Purtill wrote:

> Can you even save files using Rails? I haven’t found a way to do it  
> yet… Thanks

You do anything in Rails the same way you’d do it with Ruby itself. In  
Rails, you probably have protected directories - you’ll need to  
unprotect the directories first so you can save files there.

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**Author:** ![sdpurtill](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sdpurtill](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sdpurtill)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 10:04pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/saving-to-xml-to-a-file/99730/4 "2006-07-25T22:04:46Z")

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Look up File.open.  
[http://uic.rsu.ru/doc/programming/ruby/ProgrammingRuby/html/tut\_io.html](http://uic.rsu.ru/doc/programming/ruby/ProgrammingRuby/html/tut_io.html)

You can practice in script/console to get your syntax right.

```
        - dan

```

–  
Dan K. [mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
[http://www.dankohn.com/](http://www.dankohn.com/)tel:+1-415-233-1000