Twig(3pm) User Contributed Perl Documentation Twig(3pm)
NAME
XML::Twig - A perl module for processing huge XML documents in tree
mode.
SYNOPSIS
Note that this documentation is intended as a reference to the module.
Complete docs, including a tutorial, examples, an easier to use HTML
version, a quick reference card and a FAQ are available at
<http://www.xmltwig.org/xmltwig>
Small documents (loaded in memory as a tree):
my $twig=XML::Twig->new(); # create the twig
$twig->parsefile( 'doc.xml'); # build it
my_process( $twig); # use twig methods to process it
$twig->print; # output the twig
Huge documents (processed in combined stream/tree mode):
# at most one div will be loaded in memory
my $twig=XML::Twig->new(
twig_handlers =>
{ title => sub { $_->set_tag( 'h2') }, # change title tags to h2
# $_ is the current element
para => sub { $_->set_tag( 'p') }, # change para to p
hidden => sub { $_->delete; }, # remove hidden elements
list => \&my_list_process, # process list elements
div => sub { $_[0]->flush; }, # output and free memory
},
pretty_print => 'indented', # output will be nicely formatted
empty_tags => 'html', # outputs <empty_tag />
);
$twig->parsefile( 'my_big.xml');
sub my_list_process
{ my( $twig, $list)= @_;
# ...
}
See XML::Twig 101 for other ways to use the module, as a filter for
example.
DESCRIPTION
This module provides a way to process XML documents. It is build on top
of "XML::Parser".
The module offers a tree interface to the document, while allowing you
to output the parts of it that have been completely processed.
It allows minimal resource (CPU and memory) usage by building the tree
only for the parts of the documents that need actual processing, through
the use of the "twig_roots " and "twig_print_outside_roots " options.
The "finish " and "finish_print " methods also help to increase
performances.
XML::Twig tries to make simple things easy so it tries its best to takes
care of a lot of the (usually) annoying (but sometimes necessary)
features that come with XML and XML::Parser.
TOOLS
XML::Twig comes with a few command-line utilities:
xml_pp - xml pretty-printer
XML pretty printer using XML::Twig
xml_grep - grep XML files looking for specific elements
"xml_grep" does a grep on XML files. Instead of using regular
expressions it uses XPath expressions (in fact the subset of XPath
supported by XML::Twig).
xml_split - cut a big XML file into smaller chunks
"xml_split" takes a (presumably big) XML file and split it in several
smaller files, based on various criteria (level in the tree, size or an
XPath expression)
xml_merge - merge back XML files split with xml_split
"xml_merge" takes several xml files that have been split using
"xml_split" and recreates a single file.
xml_spellcheck - spellcheck XML files
"xml_spellcheck" lets you spell check the content of an XML file. It
extracts the text (the content of elements and optionally of
attributes), call a spell checker on it and then recreates the XML
document.
XML::Twig 101
XML::Twig can be used either on "small" XML documents (that fit in
memory) or on huge ones, by processing parts of the document and
outputting or discarding them once they are processed.
Loading an XML document and processing it
my $t= XML::Twig->new();
$t->parse( '<d><title>title</title><para>p 1</para><para>p 2</para></d>');
my $root= $t->root;
$root->set_tag( 'html'); # change doc to html
$title= $root->first_child( 'title'); # get the title
$title->set_tag( 'h1'); # turn it into h1
my @para= $root->children( 'para'); # get the para children
foreach my $para (@para)
{ $para->set_tag( 'p'); } # turn them into p
$t->print; # output the document
Other useful methods include:
att: "$elt->{'att'}->{'foo'}" return the "foo" attribute for an element,
set_att : "$elt->set_att( foo => "bar")" sets the "foo" attribute to the
"bar" value,
next_sibling: "$elt->{next_sibling}" return the next sibling in the
document (in the example "$title->{next_sibling}" is the first "para",
you can also (and actually should) use "$elt->next_sibling( 'para')" to
get it
The document can also be transformed through the use of the cut, copy,
paste and move methods: "$title->cut; $title->paste( after => $p);" for
example
And much, much more, see XML::Twig::Elt.
Processing an XML document chunk by chunk
One of the strengths of XML::Twig is that it let you work with files
that do not fit in memory (BTW storing an XML document in memory as a
tree is quite memory-expensive, the expansion factor being often around
10).
To do this you can define handlers, that will be called once a specific
element has been completely parsed. In these handlers you can access the
element and process it as you see fit, using the navigation and the cut-
n-paste methods, plus lots of convenient ones like "prefix ". Once the
element is completely processed you can then "flush " it, which will
output it and free the memory. You can also "purge " it if you don't
need to output it (if you are just extracting some data from the
document for example). The handler will be called again once the next
relevant element has been parsed.
my $t= XML::Twig->new( twig_handlers =>
{ section => \§ion,
para => sub { $_->set_tag( 'p'); }
},
);
$t->parsefile( 'doc.xml');
# the handler is called once a section is completely parsed, ie when
# the end tag for section is found, it receives the twig itself and
# the element (including all its sub-elements) as arguments
sub section
{ my( $t, $section)= @_; # arguments for all twig_handlers
$section->set_tag( 'div'); # change the tag name
# let's use the attribute nb as a prefix to the title
my $title= $section->first_child( 'title'); # find the title
my $nb= $title->{'att'}->{'nb'}; # get the attribute
$title->prefix( "$nb - "); # easy isn't it?
$section->flush; # outputs the section and frees memory
}
There is of course more to it: you can trigger handlers on more
elaborate conditions than just the name of the element, "section/title"
for example.
my $t= XML::Twig->new( twig_handlers =>
{ 'section/title' => sub { $_->print } }
)
->parsefile( 'doc.xml');
Here "sub { $_->print }" simply prints the current element ($_ is
aliased to the element in the handler).
You can also trigger a handler on a test on an attribute:
my $t= XML::Twig->new( twig_handlers =>
{ 'section[@level="1"]' => sub { $_->print } }
);
->parsefile( 'doc.xml');
You can also use "start_tag_handlers " to process an element as soon as
the start tag is found. Besides "prefix " you can also use "suffix ",
Processing just parts of an XML document
The twig_roots mode builds only the required sub-trees from the document
Anything outside of the twig roots will just be ignored:
my $t= XML::Twig->new(
# the twig will include just the root and selected titles
twig_roots => { 'section/title' => \&print_n_purge,
'annex/title' => \&print_n_purge
}
);
$t->parsefile( 'doc.xml');
sub print_n_purge
{ my( $t, $elt)= @_;
print $elt->text; # print the text (including sub-element texts)
$t->purge; # frees the memory
}
You can use that mode when you want to process parts of a documents but
are not interested in the rest and you don't want to pay the price,
either in time or memory, to build the tree for the it.
Building an XML filter
You can combine the "twig_roots" and the "twig_print_outside_roots"
options to build filters, which let you modify selected elements and
will output the rest of the document as is.
This would convert prices in $ to prices in Euro in a document:
my $t= XML::Twig->new(
twig_roots => { 'price' => \&convert, }, # process prices
twig_print_outside_roots => 1, # print the rest
);
$t->parsefile( 'doc.xml');
sub convert
{ my( $t, $price)= @_;
my $currency= $price->{'att'}->{'currency'}; # get the currency
if( $currency eq 'USD')
{ $usd_price= $price->text; # get the price
# %rate is just a conversion table
my $euro_price= $usd_price * $rate{usd2euro};
$price->set_text( $euro_price); # set the new price
$price->set_att( currency => 'EUR'); # don't forget this!
}
$price->print; # output the price
}
XML::Twig and various versions of Perl, XML::Parser and expat:
XML::Twig is a lot more sensitive to variations in versions of perl,
XML::Parser and expat than to the OS, so this should cover some
reasonable configurations.
The "recommended configuration" is perl 5.8.3+ (for good Unicode
support), XML::Parser 2.31+ and expat 1.95.5+
See <http://testers.cpan.org/search?request=dist&dist=XML-Twig> for the
CPAN testers reports on XML::Twig, which list all tested configurations.
An Atom feed of the CPAN Testers results is available at
<http://xmltwig.org/rss/twig_testers.rss>
Finally:
XML::Twig does NOT work with expat 1.95.4
XML::Twig only works with XML::Parser 2.27 in perl 5.6.*
Note that I can't compile XML::Parser 2.27 anymore, so I can't
guarantee that it still works
XML::Parser 2.28 does not really work
When in doubt, upgrade expat, XML::Parser and Scalar::Util
Finally, for some optional features, XML::Twig depends on some
additional modules. The complete list, which depends somewhat on the
version of Perl that you are running, is given by running
"t/zz_dump_config.t"
Simplifying XML processing
Whitespaces
Whitespaces that look non-significant are discarded, this behaviour
can be controlled using the "keep_spaces ", "keep_spaces_in " and
"discard_spaces_in " options.
Encoding
You can specify that you want the output in the same encoding as the
input (provided you have valid XML, which means you have to specify
the encoding either in the document or when you create the Twig
object) using the "keep_encoding " option
You can also use "output_encoding" to convert the internal UTF-8
format to the required encoding.
Comments and Processing Instructions (PI)
Comments and PI's can be hidden from the processing, but still
appear in the output (they are carried by the "real" element closer
to them)
Pretty Printing
XML::Twig can output the document pretty printed so it is easier to
read for us humans.
Surviving an untimely death
XML parsers are supposed to react violently when fed improper XML.
XML::Parser just dies.
XML::Twig provides the "safe_parse " and the "safe_parsefile "
methods which wrap the parse in an eval and return either the parsed
twig or 0 in case of failure.
Private attributes
Attributes with a name starting with # (illegal in XML) will not be
output, so you can safely use them to store temporary values during
processing. Note that you can store anything in a private attribute,
not just text, it's just a regular Perl variable, so a reference to
an object or a huge data structure is perfectly fine.
CLASSES
XML::Twig uses a very limited number of classes. The ones you are most
likely to use are "XML::Twig" of course, which represents a complete XML
document, including the document itself (the root of the document itself
is "root"), its handlers, its input or output filters... The other main
class is "XML::Twig::Elt", which models an XML element. Element here has
a very wide definition: it can be a regular element, or but also text,
with an element "tag" of "#PCDATA" (or "#CDATA"), an entity (tag is
"#ENT"), a Processing Instruction ("#PI"), a comment ("#COMMENT").
Those are the 2 commonly used classes.
You might want to look the "elt_class" option if you want to subclass
"XML::Twig::Elt".
Attributes are just attached to their parent element, they are not
objects per se. (Please use the provided methods "att" and "set_att" to
access them, if you access them as a hash, then your code becomes
implementation dependent and might break in the future).
Other classes that are seldom used are "XML::Twig::Entity_list" and
"XML::Twig::Entity".
If you use "XML::Twig::XPath" instead of "XML::Twig", elements are then
created as "XML::Twig::XPath::Elt"
METHODS
XML::Twig
A twig is a subclass of XML::Parser, so all XML::Parser methods can be
called on a twig object, including parse and parsefile. "setHandlers"
on the other hand cannot be used, see "BUGS "
new This is a class method, the constructor for XML::Twig. Options are
passed as keyword value pairs. Recognized options are the same as
XML::Parser, plus some (in fact a lot!) XML::Twig specifics.
New Options:
twig_handlers
This argument consists of a hash "{ expression =" \&handler}>
where expression is a an XPath-like expression (+ some others).
XPath expressions are limited to using the child and descendant
axis (indeed you can't specify an axis), and predicates cannot
be nested. You can use the "string", or string(<tag>) function
(except in "twig_roots" triggers).
Additionally you can use regexps (/ delimited) to match
attribute and string values.
Examples:
foo
foo/bar
foo//bar
/foo/bar
/foo//bar
/foo/bar[@att1 = "val1" and @att2 = "val2"]/baz[@a >= 1]
foo[string()=~ /^duh!+/]
/foo[string(bar)=~ /\d+/]/baz[@att != 3]
#CDATA can be used to call a handler for a CDATA section.
#COMMENT can be used to call a handler for comments
Some additional (non-XPath) expressions are also provided for
convenience:
processing instructions
'?' or '#PI' triggers the handler for any processing
instruction, and '?<target>' or '#PI <target>' triggers a
handler for processing instruction with the given target(
ex: '#PI xml-stylesheet').
level(<level>)
Triggers the handler on any element at that level in the
tree (root is level 1)
_all_
Triggers the handler for all elements in the tree
_default_
Triggers the handler for each element that does NOT have any
other handler.
Expressions are evaluated against the input document. Which
means that even if you have changed the tag of an element
(changing the tag of a parent element from a handler for
example) the change will not impact the expression evaluation.
There is an exception to this: "private" attributes (which name
start with a '#', and can only be created during the parsing, as
they are not valid XML) are checked against the current twig.
Handlers are triggered in fixed order, sorted by their type
(xpath expressions first, then regexps, then level), then by
whether they specify a full path (starting at the root element)
or not, then by number of steps in the expression, then number
of predicates, then number of tests in predicates. Handlers
where the last step does not specify a step ("foo/bar/*") are
triggered after other XPath handlers. Finally "_all_" handlers
are triggered last.
Important: once a handler has been triggered if it returns 0
then no other handler is called, except a "_all_" handler which
will be called anyway.
If a handler returns a true value and other handlers apply, then
the next applicable handler will be called. Repeat, rinse,
lather..; The exception to that rule is when the
"do_not_chain_handlers" option is set, in which case only the
first handler will be called.
Note that it might be a good idea to explicitly return a short
true value (like 1) from handlers: this ensures that other
applicable handlers are called even if the last statement for
the handler happens to evaluate to false. This might also
speedup the code by avoiding the result of the last statement of
the code to be copied and passed to the code managing handlers.
It can really pay to have 1 instead of a long string returned.
When the closing tag for an element is parsed the corresponding
handler is called, with 2 arguments: the twig and the "Element
". The twig includes the document tree that has been built so
far, the element is the complete sub-tree for the element. The
fact that the handler is called only when the closing tag for
the element is found means that handlers for inner elements are
called before handlers for outer elements.
$_ is also set to the element, so it is easy to write inline
handlers like
para => sub { $_->set_tag( 'p'); }
Text is stored in elements whose tag name is #PCDATA (due to
mixed content, text and sub-element in an element there is no
way to store the text as just an attribute of the enclosing
element, this is similar to the DOM model).
Warning: if you have used purge or flush on the twig the element
might not be complete, some of its children might have been
entirely flushed or purged, and the start tag might even have
been printed (by "flush") already, so changing its tag might not
give the expected result.
twig_roots
This argument lets you build the tree only for those elements
you are interested in.
Example: my $t= XML::Twig->new( twig_roots => { title => 1, subtitle => 1});
$t->parsefile( file);
my $t= XML::Twig->new( twig_roots => { 'section/title' => 1});
$t->parsefile( file);
return a twig containing a document including only "title" and
"subtitle" elements, as children of the root element.
You can use generic_attribute_condition, attribute_condition,
full_path, partial_path, tag, tag_regexp, _default_ and _all_ to
trigger the building of the twig. string_condition and
regexp_condition cannot be used as the content of the element,
and the string, have not yet been parsed when the condition is
checked.
WARNING: path are checked for the document. Even if the
"twig_roots" option is used they will be checked against the
full document tree, not the virtual tree created by XML::Twig
WARNING: twig_roots elements should NOT be nested, that would
hopelessly confuse XML::Twig ;--(
Note: you can set handlers (twig_handlers) using twig_roots
Example: my $t= XML::Twig->new( twig_roots =>
{ title => sub {
$_[1]->print;},
subtitle =>
\&process_subtitle
}
);
$t->parsefile( file);
twig_print_outside_roots
To be used in conjunction with the "twig_roots" argument. When
set to a true value this will print the document outside of the
"twig_roots" elements.
Example: my $t= XML::Twig->new( twig_roots => { title => \&number_title },
twig_print_outside_roots => 1,
);
$t->parsefile( file);
{ my $nb;
sub number_title
{ my( $twig, $title);
$nb++;
$title->prefix( "$nb ");
$title->print;
}
}
This example prints the document outside of the title element,
calls "number_title" for each "title" element, prints it, and
then resumes printing the document. The twig is built only for
the "title" elements.
If the value is a reference to a file handle then the document
outside the "twig_roots" elements will be output to this file
handle:
open( my $out, '>', 'out_file.xml') or die "cannot open out file.xml out_file:$!";
my $t= XML::Twig->new( twig_roots => { title => \&number_title },
# default output to $out
twig_print_outside_roots => $out,
);
{ my $nb;
sub number_title
{ my( $twig, $title);
$nb++;
$title->prefix( "$nb ");
$title->print( $out); # you have to print to \*OUT here
}
}
start_tag_handlers
A hash "{ expression =" \&handler}>. Sets element handlers that
are called when the element is open (at the end of the
XML::Parser "Start" handler). The handlers are called with 2
params: the twig and the element. The element is empty at that
point, its attributes are created though.
You can use generic_attribute_condition, attribute_condition,
full_path, partial_path, tag, tag_regexp, _default_ and _all_
to trigger the handler.
string_condition and regexp_condition cannot be used as the
content of the element, and the string, have not yet been parsed
when the condition is checked.
The main uses for those handlers are to change the tag name (you
might have to do it as soon as you find the open tag if you plan
to "flush" the twig at some point in the element, and to create
temporary attributes that will be used when processing sub-
element with "twig_hanlders".
Note: "start_tag" handlers can be called outside of "twig_roots"
if this argument is used. Since the element object is not built,
in this case handlers are called with the following arguments:
$t (the twig), $tag (the tag of the element) and %att (a hash of
the attributes of the element).
If the "twig_print_outside_roots" argument is also used, if the
last handler called returns a "true" value, then the start tag
will be output as it appeared in the original document, if the
handler returns a "false" value then the start tag will not be
printed (so you can print a modified string yourself for
example).
Note that you can use the ignore method in "start_tag_handlers"
(and only there).
end_tag_handlers
A hash "{ expression =" \&handler}>. Sets element handlers that
are called when the element is closed (at the end of the
XML::Parser "End" handler). The handlers are called with 2
params: the twig and the tag of the element.
twig_handlers are called when an element is completely parsed,
so why have this redundant option? There is only one use for
"end_tag_handlers": when using the "twig_roots" option, to
trigger a handler for an element outside the roots. It is for
example very useful to number titles in a document using nested
sections:
my @no= (0);
my $no;
my $t= XML::Twig->new(
start_tag_handlers =>
{ section => sub { $no[$#no]++; $no= join '.', @no; push @no, 0; } },
twig_roots =>
{ title => sub { $_->prefix( $no); $_->print; } },
end_tag_handlers => { section => sub { pop @no; } },
twig_print_outside_roots => 1
);
$t->parsefile( $file);
Using the "end_tag_handlers" argument without "twig_roots" will
result in an error.
do_not_chain_handlers
If this option is set to a true value, then only one handler
will be called for each element, even if several satisfy the
condition
Note that the "_all_" handler will still be called regardless
ignore_elts
This option lets you ignore elements when building the twig.
This is useful in cases where you cannot use "twig_roots" to
ignore elements, for example if the element to ignore is a
sibling of elements you are interested in.
Example:
my $twig= XML::Twig->new( ignore_elts => { elt => 'discard' });
$twig->parsefile( 'doc.xml');
This will build the complete twig for the document, except that
all "elt" elements (and their children) will be left out.
The keys in the hash are triggers, limited to the same subset as
"start_tag_handlers". The values can be "discard", to discard
the element, "print", to output the element as-is, "string" to
store the text of the ignored element(s), including markup, in a
field of the twig: "$t->{twig_buffered_string}" or a reference
to a scalar, in which case the text of the ignored element(s),
including markup, will be stored in the scalar. Any other value
will be treated as "discard".
char_handler
A reference to a subroutine that will be called every time
"PCDATA" is found.
The subroutine receives the string as argument, and returns the
modified string:
# WE WANT ALL STRINGS IN UPPER CASE
sub my_char_handler
{ my( $text)= @_;
$text= uc( $text);
return $text;
}
elt_class
The name of a class used to store elements. this class should
inherit from "XML::Twig::Elt" (and by default it is
"XML::Twig::Elt"). This option is used to subclass the element
class and extend it with new methods.
This option is needed because during the parsing of the XML,
elements are created by "XML::Twig", without any control from
the user code.
keep_atts_order
Setting this option to a true value causes the attribute hash to
be tied to a "Tie::IxHash" object. This means that
"Tie::IxHash" needs to be installed for this option to be
available. It also means that the hash keeps its order, so you
will get the attributes in order. This allows outputting the
attributes in the same order as they were in the original
document.
keep_encoding
This is a (slightly?) evil option: if the XML document is not
UTF-8 encoded and you want to keep it that way, then setting
keep_encoding will use the"Expat" original_string method for
character, thus keeping the original encoding, as well as the
original entities in the strings.
See the "t/test6.t" test file to see what results you can expect
from the various encoding options.
WARNING: if the original encoding is multi-byte then attribute
parsing will be EXTREMELY unsafe under any Perl before 5.6, as
it uses regular expressions which do not deal properly with
multi-byte characters. You can specify an alternate function to
parse the start tags with the "parse_start_tag" option (see
below)
WARNING: this option is NOT used when parsing with XML::Parser
non-blocking parser ("parse_start", "parse_more", "parse_done"
methods) which you probably should not use with XML::Twig anyway
as they are totally untested!
output_encoding
This option generates an output_filter using "Encode",
"Text::Iconv" or "Unicode::Map8" and "Unicode::Strings", and
sets the encoding in the XML declaration. This is the easiest
way to deal with encodings, if you need more sophisticated
features, look at "output_filter" below
output_filter
This option is used to convert the character encoding of the
output document. It is passed either a string corresponding to
a predefined filter or a subroutine reference. The filter will
be called every time a document or element is processed by the
"print" functions ("print", "sprint", "flush").
Pre-defined filters:
latin1
uses either "Encode", "Text::Iconv" or "Unicode::Map8" and
"Unicode::String" or a regexp (which works only with
XML::Parser 2.27), in this order, to convert all characters
to ISO-8859-15 (usually latin1 is synonym to ISO-8859-1, but
in practice it seems that ISO-8859-15, which includes the
euro sign, is more useful and probably what most people
want).
html
does the same conversion as "latin1", plus encodes entities
using "HTML::Entities" (oddly enough you will need to have
HTML::Entities installed for it to be available). This
should only be used if the tags and attribute names
themselves are in US-ASCII, or they will be converted and
the output will not be valid XML any more
safe
converts the output to ASCII (US) only plus character
entities ("&#nnn;") this should be used only if the tags and
attribute names themselves are in US-ASCII, or they will be
converted and the output will not be valid XML any more
safe_hex
same as "safe" except that the character entities are in hex
("&#xnnn;")
encode_convert ($encoding)
Return a subref that can be used to convert utf8 strings to
$encoding). Uses "Encode".
my $conv = XML::Twig::encode_convert( 'latin1');
my $t = XML::Twig->new(output_filter => $conv);
iconv_convert ($encoding)
this function is used to create a filter subroutine that
will be used to convert the characters to the target
encoding using "Text::Iconv" (which needs to be installed,
look at the documentation for the module and for the "iconv"
library to find out which encodings are available on your
system, "iconv -l" should give you a list of available
encodings)
my $conv = XML::Twig::iconv_convert( 'latin1');
my $t = XML::Twig->new(output_filter => $conv);
unicode_convert ($encoding)
this function is used to create a filter subroutine that
will be used to convert the characters to the target
encoding using "Unicode::Strings" and "Unicode::Map8"
(which need to be installed, look at the documentation for
the modules to find out which encodings are available on
your system)
my $conv = XML::Twig::unicode_convert( 'latin1');
my $t = XML::Twig->new(output_filter => $conv);
The "text" and "att" methods do not use the filter, so their
result are always in unicode.
Those predeclared filters are based on subroutines that can be
used by themselves (as "XML::Twig::foo").
html_encode ($string)
Use "HTML::Entities" to encode a utf8 string
safe_encode ($string)
Use either a regexp (perl < 5.8) or "Encode" to encode non-
ascii characters in the string in "&#<nnnn>;" format
safe_encode_hex ($string)
Use either a regexp (perl < 5.8) or "Encode" to encode non-
ascii characters in the string in "&#x<nnnn>;" format
regexp2latin1 ($string)
Use a regexp to encode a utf8 string into latin 1
(ISO-8859-1). Does not work with Perl 5.8.0!
output_text_filter
same as output_filter, except it doesn't apply to the brackets
and quotes around attribute values. This is useful for all
filters that could change the tagging, basically anything that
does not just change the encoding of the output. "html", "safe"
and "safe_hex" are better used with this option.
input_filter
This option is similar to "output_filter" except the filter is
applied to the characters before they are stored in the twig, at
parsing time.
remove_cdata
Setting this option to a true value will force the twig to
output CDATA sections as regular (escaped) PCDATA
parse_start_tag
If you use the "keep_encoding" option then this option can be
used to replace the default parsing function. You should provide
a coderef (a reference to a subroutine) as the argument, this
subroutine takes the original tag (given by XML::Parser::Expat
original_string() method) and returns a tag and the attributes
in a hash (or in a list attribute_name/attribute value).
no_xxe
prevents external entities to be parsed.
This is a security feature, in case the input XML cannot be
trusted. With this option set to a true value defining external
entities in the document will cause the parse to fail.
This prevents an entity like "<!ENTITY xxe PUBLIC "bar"
"/etc/passwd">" to make the password fiel available in the
document.
expand_external_ents
When this option is used external entities (that are defined)
are expanded when the document is output using "print" functions
such as "print ", "sprint ", "flush " and "xml_string ". Note
that in the twig the entity will be stored as an element with a
tag '"#ENT"', the entity will not be expanded there, so you
might want to process the entities before outputting it.
If an external entity is not available, then the parse will
fail.
A special case is when the value of this option is -1. In that
case a missing entity will not cause the parser to die, but its
"name", "sysid" and "pubid" will be stored in the twig as
"$twig->{twig_missing_system_entities}" (a reference to an array
of hashes { name => <name>, sysid => <sysid>, pubid => <pubid>
}). Yes, this is a bit of a hack, but it's useful in some cases.
WARNING: setting expand_external_ents to 0 or -1 currently
doesn't work as expected; cf.
<https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Bug/Display.html?id=118097>. To
completelty turn off expanding external entities use "no_xxe".
no_xxe
If this argument is set to a true value, expanding of external
entities is turned off.
load_DTD
If this argument is set to a true value, "parse" or "parsefile"
on the twig will load the DTD information. This information can
then be accessed through the twig, in a "DTD_handler" for
example. This will load even an external DTD.
Default and fixed values for attributes will also be filled,
based on the DTD.
Note that to do this the module will generate a temporary file
in the current directory. If this is a problem let me know and I
will add an option to specify an alternate directory.
See "DTD Handling" for more information
DTD_base <path_to_DTD_directory>
If the DTD is in a different directory, looks for it there,
useful to make up somewhat for the lack of catalog support in
"expat". You still need a SYSTEM declaration
DTD_handler
Set a handler that will be called once the doctype (and the DTD)
have been loaded, with 2 arguments, the twig and the DTD.
no_prolog
Does not output a prolog (XML declaration and DTD)
id This optional argument gives the name of an attribute that can
be used as an ID in the document. Elements whose ID is known can
be accessed through the elt_id method. id defaults to 'id'. See
"BUGS "
discard_spaces
If this optional argument is set to a true value then spaces are
discarded when they look non-significant: strings containing
only spaces and at least one line feed are discarded. This
argument is set to true by default.
The exact algorithm to drop spaces is: strings including only
spaces (perl \s) and at least one \n right before an open or
close tag are dropped.
discard_all_spaces
If this argument is set to a true value, spaces are discarded
more aggressively than with "discard_spaces": strings not
including a \n are also dropped. This option is appropriate for
data-oriented XML.
keep_spaces
If this optional argument is set to a true value then all spaces
in the document are kept, and stored as "PCDATA".
Warning: adding this option can result in changes in the twig
generated: space that was previously discarded might end up in a
new text element. see the difference by calling the following
code with 0 and 1 as arguments:
perl -MXML::Twig -e'print XML::Twig->new( keep_spaces => shift)->parse( "<d> \n<e/></d>")->_dump'
"keep_spaces" and "discard_spaces" cannot be both set.
discard_spaces_in
This argument sets "keep_spaces" to true but will cause the twig
builder to discard spaces in the elements listed.
The syntax for using this argument is:
XML::Twig->new( discard_spaces_in => [ 'elt1', 'elt2']);
keep_spaces_in
This argument sets "discard_spaces" to true but will cause the
twig builder to keep spaces in the elements listed.
The syntax for using this argument is:
XML::Twig->new( keep_spaces_in => [ 'elt1', 'elt2']);
Warning: adding this option can result in changes in the twig
generated: space that was previously discarded might end up in a
new text element.
pretty_print
Set the pretty print method, amongst '"none"' (default),
'"nsgmls"', '"nice"', '"indented"', '"indented_c"',
'"indented_a"', '"indented_close_tag"', '"cvs"', '"wrapped"',
'"record"' and '"record_c"'
pretty_print formats:
none
The document is output as one ling string, with no line
breaks except those found within text elements
nsgmls
Line breaks are inserted in safe places: that is within
tags, between a tag and an attribute, between attributes and
before the > at the end of a tag.
This is quite ugly but better than "none", and it is very
safe, the document will still be valid (conforming to its
DTD).
This is how the SGML parser "sgmls" splits documents, hence
the name.
nice
This option inserts line breaks before any tag that does not
contain text (so element with textual content are not broken
as the \n is the significant).
WARNING: this option leaves the document well-formed but
might make it invalid (not conformant to its DTD). If you
have elements declared as
<!ELEMENT foo (#PCDATA|bar)>
then a "foo" element including a "bar" one will be printed
as
<foo>
<bar>bar is just pcdata</bar>
</foo>
This is invalid, as the parser will take the line break
after the "foo" tag as a sign that the element contains
PCDATA, it will then die when it finds the "bar" tag. This
may or may not be important for you, but be aware of it!
indented
Same as "nice" (and with the same warning) but indents
elements according to their level
indented_c
Same as "indented" but a little more compact: the closing
tags are on the same line as the preceding text
indented_close_tag
Same as "indented" except that the closing tag is also
indented, to line up with the tags within the element
idented_a
This formats XML files in a line-oriented version control
friendly way. The format is described in
<http://tinyurl.com/2kwscq> (that's an Oracle document with
an insanely long URL).
Note that to be totaly conformant to the "spec", the order
of attributes should not be changed, so if they are not
already in alphabetical order you will need to use the
"keep_atts_order" option.
cvs Same as "idented_a".
wrapped
Same as "indented_c" but lines are wrapped using
Text::Wrap::wrap. The default length for lines is the
default for $Text::Wrap::columns, and can be changed by
changing that variable.
record
This is a record-oriented pretty print, that display data in
records, one field per line (which looks a LOT like
"indented")
record_c
Stands for record compact, one record per line
empty_tags
Set the empty tag display style ('"normal"', '"html"' or
'"expand"').
"normal" outputs an empty tag '"<tag/>"', "html" adds a space
'"<tag />"' for elements that can be empty in XHTML and "expand"
outputs '"<tag></tag>"'
quote
Set the quote character for attributes ('"single"' or
'"double"').
escape_gt
By default XML::Twig does not escape the character > in its
output, as it is not mandated by the XML spec. With this option
on, > will be replaced by ">"
comments
Set the way comments are processed: '"drop"' (default), '"keep"'
or '"process"'
Comments processing options:
drop
drops the comments, they are not read, nor printed to the
output
keep
comments are loaded and will appear on the output, they are
not accessible within the twig and will not interfere with
processing though
Note: comments in the middle of a text element such as
<p>text <!-- comment --> more text --></p>
are kept at their original position in the text. Using
"print" methods like "print" or "sprint" will return the
comments in the text. Using "text" or "field" on the other
hand will not.
Any use of "set_pcdata" on the "#PCDATA" element (directly
or through other methods like "set_content") will delete the
comment(s).
process
comments are loaded in the twig and will be treated as
regular elements (their "tag" is "#COMMENT") this can
interfere with processing if you expect
"$elt->{first_child}" to be an element but find a comment
there. Validation will not protect you from this as
comments can happen anywhere. You can use
"$elt->first_child( 'tag')" (which is a good habit anyway)
to get where you want.
Consider using "process" if you are outputting SAX events
from XML::Twig.
pi Set the way processing instructions are processed: '"drop"',
'"keep"' (default) or '"process"'
Note that you can also set PI handlers in the "twig_handlers"
option:
'?' => \&handler
'?target' => \&handler 2
The handlers will be called with 2 parameters, the twig and the
PI element if "pi" is set to "process", and with 3, the twig,
the target and the data if "pi" is set to "keep". Of course they
will not be called if "pi" is set to "drop".
If "pi" is set to "keep" the handler should return a string that
will be used as-is as the PI text (it should look like ""
<?target data?" >" or '' if you want to remove the PI),
Only one handler will be called, "?target" or "?" if no specific
handler for that target is available.
map_xmlns
This option is passed a hashref that maps uri's to prefixes. The
prefixes in the document will be replaced by the ones in the
map. The mapped prefixes can (actually have to) be used to
trigger handlers, navigate or query the document.
Here is an example:
my $t= XML::Twig->new( map_xmlns => {'http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' => "svg"},
twig_handlers =>
{ 'svg:circle' => sub { $_->set_att( r => 20) } },
pretty_print => 'indented',
)
->parse( '<doc xmlns:gr="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
<gr:circle cx="10" cy="90" r="10"/>
</doc>'
)
->print;
This will output:
<doc xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
<svg:circle cx="10" cy="90" r="20"/>
</doc>
keep_original_prefix
When used with "map_xmlns" this option will make "XML::Twig" use
the original namespace prefixes when outputting a document. The
mapped prefix will still be used for triggering handlers and in
navigation and query methods.
my $t= XML::Twig->new( map_xmlns => {'http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' => "svg"},
twig_handlers =>
{ 'svg:circle' => sub { $_->set_att( r => 20) } },
keep_original_prefix => 1,
pretty_print => 'indented',
)
->parse( '<doc xmlns:gr="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
<gr:circle cx="10" cy="90" r="10"/>
</doc>'
)
->print;
This will output:
<doc xmlns:gr="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
<gr:circle cx="10" cy="90" r="20"/>
</doc>
original_uri ($prefix)
called within a handler, this will return the uri bound to the
namespace prefix in the original document.
index ($arrayref or $hashref)
This option creates lists of specific elements during the
parsing of the XML. It takes a reference to either a list of
triggering expressions or to a hash name => expression, and for
each one generates the list of elements that match the
expression. The list can be accessed through the "index" method.
example:
# using an array ref
my $t= XML::Twig->new( index => [ 'div', 'table' ])
->parsefile( "foo.xml");
my $divs= $t->index( 'div');
my $first_div= $divs->[0];
my $last_table= $t->index( table => -1);
# using a hashref to name the indexes
my $t= XML::Twig->new( index => { email => 'a[@href=~/^ \s*mailto:/]'})
->parsefile( "foo.xml");
my $last_emails= $t->index( email => -1);
Note that the index is not maintained after the parsing. If
elements are deleted, renamed or otherwise hurt during
processing, the index is NOT updated. (changing the id element
OTOH will update the index)
att_accessors <list of attribute names>
creates methods that give direct access to attribute:
my $t= XML::Twig->new( att_accessors => [ 'href', 'src'])
->parsefile( $file);
my $first_href= $t->first_elt( 'img')->src; # same as ->att( 'src')
$t->first_elt( 'img')->src( 'new_logo.png') # changes the attribute value
elt_accessors
creates methods that give direct access to the first child
element (in scalar context) or the list of elements (in list
context):
the list of accessors to create can be given 1 2 different ways:
in an array, or in a hash alias => expression
my $t= XML::Twig->new( elt_accessors => [ 'head'])
->parsefile( $file);
my $title_text= $t->root->head->field( 'title');
# same as $title_text= $t->root->first_child( 'head')->field(
'title');
my $t= XML::Twig->new( elt_accessors => { warnings => 'p[@class="warning"]', d2 => 'div[2]'}, )
->parsefile( $file);
my $body= $t->first_elt( 'body');
my @warnings= $body->warnings; # same as $body->children( 'p[@class="warning"]');
my $s2= $body->d2; # same as $body->first_child( 'div[2]')
field_accessors
creates methods that give direct access to the first child
element text:
my $t= XML::Twig->new( field_accessors => [ 'h1'])
->parsefile( $file);
my $div_title_text= $t->first_elt( 'div')->title;
# same as $title_text= $t->first_elt( 'div')->field( 'title');
use_tidy
set this option to use HTML::Tidy instead of HTML::TreeBuilder
to convert HTML to XML. HTML, especially real (real "crap") HTML
found in the wild, so depending on the data, one module or the
other does a better job at the conversion. Also, HTML::Tidy can
be a bit difficult to install, so XML::Twig offers both option.
TIMTOWTDI
output_html_doctype
when using HTML::TreeBuilder to convert HTML, this option causes
the DOCTYPE declaration to be output, which may be important for
some legacy browsers. Without that option the DOCTYPE
definition is NOT output. Also if the definition is completely
wrong (ie not easily parsable), it is not output either.
Note: I _HATE_ the Java-like name of arguments used by most XML
modules. So in pure TIMTOWTDI fashion all arguments can be written
either as "UglyJavaLikeName" or as "readable_perl_name":
"twig_print_outside_roots" or "TwigPrintOutsideRoots" (or even
"twigPrintOutsideRoots" {shudder}). XML::Twig normalizes them
before processing them.
parse ( $source)
The $source parameter should either be a string containing the whole
XML document, or it should be an open "IO::Handle" (aka a
filehandle).
A die call is thrown if a parse error occurs. Otherwise it will
return the twig built by the parse. Use "safe_parse" if you want the
parsing to return even when an error occurs.
If this method is called as a class method ("XML::Twig->parse(
$some_xml_or_html)") then an XML::Twig object is created, using the
parameters except the last one (eg "XML::Twig->parse( pretty_print
=> 'indented', $some_xml_or_html)") and "xparse" is called on it.
Note that when parsing a filehandle, the handle should NOT be open
with an encoding (ie open with "open( my $in, '<', $filename)". The
file will be parsed by "expat", so specifying the encoding actually
causes problems for the parser (as in: it can crash it, see
https://rt.cpan.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=78877). For parsing a
file it is actually recommended to use "parsefile" on the file name,
instead of <parse> on the open file.
parsestring
This is just an alias for "parse" for backwards compatibility.
parsefile (FILE [, OPT => OPT_VALUE [...]])
Open "FILE" for reading, then call "parse" with the open handle. The
file is closed no matter how "parse" returns.
A "die" call is thrown if a parse error occurs. Otherwise it will
return the twig built by the parse. Use "safe_parsefile" if you want
the parsing to return even when an error occurs.
parsefile_inplace ( $file, $optional_extension)
Parse and update a file "in place". It does this by creating a temp
file, selecting it as the default for print() statements (and
methods), then parsing the input file. If the parsing is successful,
then the temp file is moved to replace the input file.
If an extension is given then the original file is backed-up (the
rules for the extension are the same as the rule for the -i option
in perl).
parsefile_html_inplace ( $file, $optional_extension)
Same as parsefile_inplace, except that it parses HTML instead of XML
parseurl ($url $optional_user_agent)
Gets the data from $url and parse it. The data is piped to the
parser in chunks the size of the XML::Parser::Expat buffer, so
memory consumption and hopefully speed are optimal.
For most (read "small") XML it is probably as efficient (and easier
to debug) to just "get" the XML file and then parse it as a string.
use XML::Twig;
use LWP::Simple;
my $twig= XML::Twig->new();
$twig->parse( LWP::Simple::get( $URL ));
or
use XML::Twig;
my $twig= XML::Twig->nparse( $URL);
If the $optional_user_agent argument is used then it is used,
otherwise a new one is created.
safe_parse ( SOURCE [, OPT => OPT_VALUE [...]])
This method is similar to "parse" except that it wraps the parsing
in an "eval" block. It returns the twig on success and 0 on failure
(the twig object also contains the parsed twig). $@ contains the
error message on failure.
Note that the parsing still stops as soon as an error is detected,
there is no way to keep going after an error.
safe_parsefile (FILE [, OPT => OPT_VALUE [...]])
This method is similar to "parsefile" except that it wraps the
parsing in an "eval" block. It returns the twig on success and 0 on
failure (the twig object also contains the parsed twig) . $@
contains the error message on failure
Note that the parsing still stops as soon as an error is detected,
there is no way to keep going after an error.
safe_parseurl ($url $optional_user_agent)
Same as "parseurl" except that it wraps the parsing in an "eval"
block. It returns the twig on success and 0 on failure (the twig
object also contains the parsed twig) . $@ contains the error
message on failure
parse_html ($string_or_fh)
parse an HTML string or file handle (by converting it to XML using
HTML::TreeBuilder, which needs to be available).
This works nicely, but some information gets lost in the process:
newlines are removed, and (at least on the version I use), comments
get an extra CDATA section inside ( <!-- foo --> becomes <!--
<![CDATA[ foo ]]> -->
parsefile_html ($file)
parse an HTML file (by converting it to XML using HTML::TreeBuilder,
which needs to be available, or HTML::Tidy if the "use_tidy" option
was used). The file is loaded completely in memory and converted to
XML before being parsed.
this method is to be used with caution though, as it doesn't know
about the file encoding, it is usually better to use "parse_html",
which gives you a chance to open the file with the proper encoding
layer.
parseurl_html ($url $optional_user_agent)
parse an URL as html the same way "parse_html" does
safe_parseurl_html ($url $optional_user_agent)
Same as "parseurl_html"> except that it wraps the parsing in an
"eval" block. It returns the twig on success and 0 on failure (the
twig object also contains the parsed twig) . $@ contains the error
message on failure
safe_parsefile_html ($file $optional_user_agent)
Same as "parsefile_html"> except that it wraps the parsing in an
"eval" block. It returns the twig on success and 0 on failure (the
twig object also contains the parsed twig) . $@ contains the error
message on failure
safe_parse_html ($string_or_fh)
Same as "parse_html" except that it wraps the parsing in an "eval"
block. It returns the twig on success and 0 on failure (the twig
object also contains the parsed twig) . $@ contains the error
message on failure
xparse ($thing_to_parse)
parse the $thing_to_parse, whether it is a filehandle, a string, an
HTML file, an HTML URL, an URL or a file.
Note that this is mostly a convenience method for one-off scripts.
For example files that end in '.htm' or '.html' are parsed first as
XML, and if this fails as HTML. This is certainly not the most
efficient way to do this in general.
nparse ($optional_twig_options, $thing_to_parse)
create a twig with the $optional_options, and parse the
$thing_to_parse, whether it is a filehandle, a string, an HTML file,
an HTML URL, an URL or a file.
Examples:
XML::Twig->nparse( "file.xml");
XML::Twig->nparse( error_context => 1, "file://file.xml");
nparse_pp ($optional_twig_options, $thing_to_parse)
same as "nparse" but also sets the "pretty_print" option to
"indented".
nparse_e ($optional_twig_options, $thing_to_parse)
same as "nparse" but also sets the "error_context" option to 1.
nparse_ppe ($optional_twig_options, $thing_to_parse)
same as "nparse" but also sets the "pretty_print" option to
"indented" and the "error_context" option to 1.
parser
This method returns the "expat" object (actually the
XML::Parser::Expat object) used during parsing. It is useful for
example to call XML::Parser::Expat methods on it. To get the line of
a tag for example use "$t->parser->current_line".
setTwigHandlers ($handlers)
Set the twig_handlers. $handlers is a reference to a hash similar to
the one in the "twig_handlers" option of new. All previous handlers
are unset. The method returns the reference to the previous
handlers.
setTwigHandler ($exp $handler)
Set a single twig_handler for elements matching $exp. $handler is a
reference to a subroutine. If the handler was previously set then
the reference to the previous handler is returned.
setStartTagHandlers ($handlers)
Set the start_tag handlers. $handlers is a reference to a hash
similar to the one in the "start_tag_handlers" option of new. All
previous handlers are unset. The method returns the reference to
the previous handlers.
setStartTagHandler ($exp $handler)
Set a single start_tag handlers for elements matching $exp. $handler
is a reference to a subroutine. If the handler was previously set
then the reference to the previous handler is returned.
setEndTagHandlers ($handlers)
Set the end_tag handlers. $handlers is a reference to a hash similar
to the one in the "end_tag_handlers" option of new. All previous
handlers are unset. The method returns the reference to the
previous handlers.
setEndTagHandler ($exp $handler)
Set a single end_tag handlers for elements matching $exp. $handler
is a reference to a subroutine. If the handler was previously set
then the reference to the previous handler is returned.
setTwigRoots ($handlers)
Same as using the "twig_roots" option when creating the twig
setCharHandler ($exp $handler)
Set a "char_handler"
setIgnoreEltsHandler ($exp)
Set a "ignore_elt" handler (elements that match $exp will be ignored
setIgnoreEltsHandlers ($exp)
Set all "ignore_elt" handlers (previous handlers are replaced)
dtd Return the dtd (an XML::Twig::DTD object) of a twig
xmldecl
Return the XML declaration for the document, or a default one if it
doesn't have one
doctype
Return the doctype for the document
doctype_name
returns the doctype of the document from the doctype declaration
system_id
returns the system value of the DTD of the document from the doctype
declaration
public_id
returns the public doctype of the document from the doctype
declaration
internal_subset
returns the internal subset of the DTD
dtd_text
Return the DTD text
dtd_print
Print the DTD
model ($tag)
Return the model (in the DTD) for the element $tag
root
Return the root element of a twig
set_root ($elt)
Set the root of a twig
first_elt ($optional_condition)
Return the first element matching $optional_condition of a twig, if
no condition is given then the root is returned
last_elt ($optional_condition)
Return the last element matching $optional_condition of a twig, if
no condition is given then the last element of the twig is returned
elt_id ($id)
Return the element whose "id" attribute is $id
getEltById
Same as "elt_id"
index ($index_name, $optional_index)
If the $optional_index argument is present, return the corresponding
element in the index (created using the "index" option for
"XML::Twig-"new>)
If the argument is not present, return an arrayref to the index
normalize
merge together all consecutive pcdata elements in the document (if
for example you have turned some elements into pcdata using "erase",
this will give you a "clean" document in which there all text
elements are as long as possible).
encoding
This method returns the encoding of the XML document, as defined by
the "encoding" attribute in the XML declaration (ie it is "undef" if
the attribute is not defined)
set_encoding
This method sets the value of the "encoding" attribute in the XML
declaration. Note that if the document did not have a declaration
it is generated (with an XML version of 1.0)
xml_version
This method returns the XML version, as defined by the "version"
attribute in the XML declaration (ie it is "undef" if the attribute
is not defined)
set_xml_version
This method sets the value of the "version" attribute in the XML
declaration. If the declaration did not exist it is created.
standalone
This method returns the value of the "standalone" declaration for
the document
set_standalone
This method sets the value of the "standalone" attribute in the XML
declaration. Note that if the document did not have a declaration
it is generated (with an XML version of 1.0)
set_output_encoding
Set the "encoding" "attribute" in the XML declaration
set_doctype ($name, $system, $public, $internal)
Set the doctype of the element. If an argument is "undef" (or not
present) then its former value is retained, if a false ('' or 0)
value is passed then the former value is deleted;
entity_list
Return the entity list of a twig
entity_names
Return the list of all defined entities
entity ($entity_name)
Return the entity
notation_list
Return the notation list of a twig
notation_names
Return the list of all defined notations
notation ($notation_name)
Return the notation
change_gi ($old_gi, $new_gi)
Performs a (very fast) global change. All elements $old_gi are now
$new_gi. This is a bit dangerous though and should be avoided if <
possible, as the new tag might be ignored in subsequent processing.
See "BUGS "
flush ($optional_filehandle, %options)
Flushes a twig up to (and including) the current element, then
deletes all unnecessary elements from the tree that's kept in
memory. "flush" keeps track of which elements need to be
open/closed, so if you flush from handlers you don't have to worry
about anything. Just keep flushing the twig every time you're done
with a sub-tree and it will come out well-formed. After the whole
parsing don't forget to"flush" one more time to print the end of the
document. The doctype and entity declarations are also printed.
flush take an optional filehandle as an argument.
If you use "flush" at any point during parsing, the document will be
flushed one last time at the end of the parsing, to the proper
filehandle.
options: use the "update_DTD" option if you have updated the
(internal) DTD and/or the entity list and you want the updated DTD
to be output
The "pretty_print" option sets the pretty printing of the document.
Example: $t->flush( Update_DTD => 1);
$t->flush( $filehandle, pretty_print => 'indented');
$t->flush( \*FILE);
flush_up_to ($elt, $optional_filehandle, %options)
Flushes up to the $elt element. This allows you to keep part of the
tree in memory when you "flush".
options: see flush.
purge
Does the same as a "flush" except it does not print the twig. It
just deletes all elements that have been completely parsed so far.
purge_up_to ($elt)
Purges up to the $elt element. This allows you to keep part of the
tree in memory when you "purge".
print ($optional_filehandle, %options)
Prints the whole document associated with the twig. To be used only
AFTER the parse.
options: see "flush".
print_to_file ($filename, %options)
Prints the whole document associated with the twig to file
$filename. To be used only AFTER the parse.
options: see "flush".
safe_print_to_file ($filename, %options)
Prints the whole document associated with the twig to file
$filename. This variant, which probably only works on *nix prints
to a temp file, then move the temp file to overwrite the original
file.
This is a bit safer when 2 processes an potentiallywrite the same
file: only the last one will succeed, but the file won't be
corruted. I often use this for cron jobs, so testing the code
doesn't interfere with the cron job running at the same time.
options: see "flush".
sprint
Return the text of the whole document associated with the twig. To
be used only AFTER the parse.
options: see "flush".
trim
Trim the document: gets rid of initial and trailing spaces, and
replaces multiple spaces by a single one.
toSAX1 ($handler)
Send SAX events for the twig to the SAX1 handler $handler
toSAX2 ($handler)
Send SAX events for the twig to the SAX2 handler $handler
flush_toSAX1 ($handler)
Same as flush, except that SAX events are sent to the SAX1 handler
$handler instead of the twig being printed
flush_toSAX2 ($handler)
Same as flush, except that SAX events are sent to the SAX2 handler
$handler instead of the twig being printed
ignore
This method should be called during parsing, usually in
"start_tag_handlers". It causes the element to be skipped during
the parsing: the twig is not built for this element, it will not be
accessible during parsing or after it. The element will not take up
any memory and parsing will be faster.
Note that this method can also be called on an element. If the
element is a parent of the current element then this element will be
ignored (the twig will not be built any more for it and what has
already been built will be deleted).
set_pretty_print ($style)
Set the pretty print method, amongst '"none"' (default), '"nsgmls"',
'"nice"', '"indented"', "indented_c", '"wrapped"', '"record"' and
'"record_c"'
WARNING: the pretty print style is a GLOBAL variable, so once set
it's applied to ALL "print"'s (and "sprint"'s). Same goes if you use
XML::Twig with "mod_perl" . This should not be a problem as the XML
that's generated is valid anyway, and XML processors (as well as
HTML processors, including browsers) should not care. Let me know if
this is a big problem, but at the moment the performance/cleanliness
trade-off clearly favors the global approach.
set_empty_tag_style ($style)
Set the empty tag display style ('"normal"', '"html"' or
'"expand"'). As with "set_pretty_print" this sets a global flag.
"normal" outputs an empty tag '"<tag/>"', "html" adds a space '"<tag
/>"' for elements that can be empty in XHTML and "expand" outputs
'"<tag></tag>"'
set_remove_cdata ($flag)
set (or unset) the flag that forces the twig to output CDATA
sections as regular (escaped) PCDATA
print_prolog ($optional_filehandle, %options)
Prints the prolog (XML declaration + DTD + entity declarations) of a
document.
options: see "flush".
prolog ($optional_filehandle, %options)
Return the prolog (XML declaration + DTD + entity declarations) of a
document.
options: see "flush".
finish
Call Expat "finish" method. Unsets all handlers (including internal
ones that set context), but expat continues parsing to the end of
the document or until it finds an error. It should finish up a lot
faster than with the handlers set.
finish_print
Stops twig processing, flush the twig and proceed to finish printing
the document as fast as possible. Use this method when modifying a
document and the modification is done.
finish_now
Stops twig processing, does not finish parsing the document (which
could actually be not well-formed after the point where "finish_now"
is called). Execution resumes after the "Lparse"> or "parsefile"
call. The content of the twig is what has been parsed so far (all
open elements at the time "finish_now" is called are considered
closed).
set_expand_external_entities
Same as using the "expand_external_ents" option when creating the
twig
set_input_filter
Same as using the "input_filter" option when creating the twig
set_keep_atts_order
Same as using the "keep_atts_order" option when creating the twig
set_keep_encoding
Same as using the "keep_encoding" option when creating the twig
escape_gt
usually XML::Twig does not escape > in its output. Using this option
makes it replace > by >
do_not_escape_gt
reverts XML::Twig behavior to its default of not escaping > in its
output.
set_output_filter
Same as using the "output_filter" option when creating the twig
set_output_text_filter
Same as using the "output_text_filter" option when creating the twig
add_stylesheet ($type, @options)
Adds an external stylesheet to an XML document.
Supported types and options:
xsl option: the url of the stylesheet
Example:
$t->add_stylesheet( xsl => "xsl_style.xsl");
will generate the following PI at the beginning of the document:
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="xsl_style.xsl"?>
css option: the url of the stylesheet
active_twig
a class method that returns the last processed twig, so you
don't necessarily need the object to call methods on it.
Methods inherited from XML::Parser::Expat
A twig inherits all the relevant methods from XML::Parser::Expat.
These methods can only be used during the parsing phase (they will
generate a fatal error otherwise).
Inherited methods are:
depth
Returns the size of the context list.
in_element
Returns true if NAME is equal to the name of the innermost
currently opened element. If namespace processing is being used
and you want to check against a name that may be in a namespace,
then use the generate_ns_name method to create the NAME
argument.
within_element
Returns the number of times the given name appears in the
context list. If namespace processing is being used and you
want to check against a name that may be in a namespace, then
use the generate_ns_name method to create the NAME argument.
context
Returns a list of element names that represent open elements,
with the last one being the innermost. Inside start and end tag
handlers, this will be the tag of the parent element.
current_line
Returns the line number of the current position of the parse.
current_column
Returns the column number of the current position of the parse.
current_byte
Returns the current position of the parse.
position_in_context
Returns a string that shows the current parse position. LINES
should be an integer >= 0 that represents the number of lines on
either side of the current parse line to place into the returned
string.
base ([NEWBASE])
Returns the current value of the base for resolving relative
URIs. If NEWBASE is supplied, changes the base to that value.
current_element
Returns the name of the innermost currently opened element.
Inside start or end handlers, returns the parent of the element
associated with those tags.
element_index
Returns an integer that is the depth-first visit order of the
current element. This will be zero outside of the root element.
For example, this will return 1 when called from the start
handler for the root element start tag.
recognized_string
Returns the string from the document that was recognized in
order to call the current handler. For instance, when called
from a start handler, it will give us the start-tag string. The
string is encoded in UTF-8. This method doesn't return a
meaningful string inside declaration handlers.
original_string
Returns the verbatim string from the document that was
recognized in order to call the current handler. The string is
in the original document encoding. This method doesn't return a
meaningful string inside declaration handlers.
xpcroak
Concatenate onto the given message the current line number
within the XML document plus the message implied by
ErrorContext. Then croak with the formed message.
xpcarp
Concatenate onto the given message the current line number
within the XML document plus the message implied by
ErrorContext. Then carp with the formed message.
xml_escape(TEXT [, CHAR [, CHAR ...]])
Returns TEXT with markup characters turned into character
entities. Any additional characters provided as arguments are
also turned into character references where found in TEXT.
(this method is broken on some versions of expat/XML::Parser)
path ( $optional_tag)
Return the element context in a form similar to XPath's short form:
'"/root/tag1/../tag"'
get_xpath ( $optional_array_ref, $xpath, $optional_offset)
Performs a "get_xpath" on the document root (see <Elt|"Elt">)
If the $optional_array_ref argument is used the array must contain
elements. The $xpath expression is applied to each element in turn
and the result is union of all results. This way a first query can
be refined in further steps.
find_nodes ( $optional_array_ref, $xpath, $optional_offset)
same as "get_xpath"
findnodes ( $optional_array_ref, $xpath, $optional_offset)
same as "get_xpath" (similar to the XML::LibXML method)
findvalue ( $optional_array_ref, $xpath, $optional_offset)
Return the "join" of all texts of the results of applying
"get_xpath" to the node (similar to the XML::LibXML method)
findvalues ( $optional_array_ref, $xpath, $optional_offset)
Return an array of all texts of the results of applying "get_xpath"
to the node
subs_text ($regexp, $replace)
subs_text does text substitution on the whole document, similar to
perl's " s///" operator.
dispose
Useful only if you don't have "Scalar::Util" or "WeakRef" installed.
Reclaims properly the memory used by an XML::Twig object. As the
object has circular references it never goes out of scope, so if you
want to parse lots of XML documents then the memory leak becomes a
problem. Use "$twig->dispose" to clear this problem.
att_accessors (list_of_attribute_names)
A convenience method that creates l-valued accessors for attributes.
So "$twig->create_accessors( 'foo')" will create a "foo" method that
can be called on elements:
$elt->foo; # equivalent to $elt->{'att'}->{'foo'};
$elt->foo( 'bar'); # equivalent to $elt->set_att( foo => 'bar');
The methods are l-valued only under those perl's that support this
feature (5.6 and above)
create_accessors (list_of_attribute_names)
Same as att_accessors
elt_accessors (list_of_attribute_names)
A convenience method that creates accessors for elements. So
"$twig->create_accessors( 'foo')" will create a "foo" method that
can be called on elements:
$elt->foo; # equivalent to $elt->first_child( 'foo');
field_accessors (list_of_attribute_names)
A convenience method that creates accessors for element values
("field"). So "$twig->create_accessors( 'foo')" will create a "foo"
method that can be called on elements:
$elt->foo; # equivalent to $elt->field( 'foo');
set_do_not_escape_amp_in_atts
An evil method, that I only document because Test::Pod::Coverage
complaints otherwise, but really, you don't want to know about it.
XML::Twig::Elt
new ($optional_tag, $optional_atts, @optional_content)
The "tag" is optional (but then you can't have a content ), the
$optional_atts argument is a reference to a hash of attributes, the
content can be just a string or a list of strings and element. A
content of '"#EMPTY"' creates an empty element;
Examples: my $elt= XML::Twig::Elt->new();
my $elt= XML::Twig::Elt->new( para => { align => 'center' });
my $elt= XML::Twig::Elt->new( para => { align => 'center' }, 'foo');
my $elt= XML::Twig::Elt->new( br => '#EMPTY');
my $elt= XML::Twig::Elt->new( 'para');
my $elt= XML::Twig::Elt->new( para => 'this is a para');
my $elt= XML::Twig::Elt->new( para => $elt3, 'another para');
The strings are not parsed, the element is not attached to any twig.
WARNING: if you rely on ID's then you will have to set the id
yourself. At this point the element does not belong to a twig yet,
so the ID attribute is not known so it won't be stored in the ID
list.
Note that "#COMMENT", "#PCDATA" or "#CDATA" are valid tag names,
that will create text elements.
To create an element "foo" containing a CDATA section:
my $foo= XML::Twig::Elt->new( '#CDATA' => "content of the CDATA section")
->wrap_in( 'foo');
An attribute of '#CDATA', will create the content of the element as
CDATA:
my $elt= XML::Twig::Elt->new( 'p' => { '#CDATA' => 1}, 'foo < bar');
creates an element
<p><![CDATA[foo < bar]]></>
parse ($string, %args)
Creates an element from an XML string. The string is actually parsed
as a new twig, then the root of that twig is returned. The
arguments in %args are passed to the twig. As always if the parse
fails the parser will die, so use an eval if you want to trap syntax
errors.
As obviously the element does not exist beforehand this method has
to be called on the class:
my $elt= parse XML::Twig::Elt( "<a> string to parse, with <sub/>
<elements>, actually tons of </elements>
h</a>");
set_inner_xml ($string)
Sets the content of the element to be the tree created from the
string
set_inner_html ($string)
Sets the content of the element, after parsing the string with an
HTML parser (HTML::Parser)
set_outer_xml ($string)
Replaces the element with the tree created from the string
print ($optional_filehandle, $optional_pretty_print_style)
Prints an entire element, including the tags, optionally to a
$optional_filehandle, optionally with a $pretty_print_style.
The print outputs XML data so base entities are escaped.
print_to_file ($filename, %options)
Prints the element to file $filename.
options: see "flush". =item sprint ($elt,
$optional_no_enclosing_tag)
Return the xml string for an entire element, including the tags. If
the optional second argument is true then only the string inside the
element is returned (the start and end tag for $elt are not). The
text is XML-escaped: base entities (& and < in text, & < and " in
attribute values) are turned into entities.
gi Return the gi of the element (the gi is the "generic identifier" the
tag name in SGML parlance).
"tag" and "name" are synonyms of "gi".
tag Same as "gi"
name
Same as "tag"
set_gi ($tag)
Set the gi (tag) of an element
set_tag ($tag)
Set the tag (="tag") of an element
set_name ($name)
Set the name (="tag") of an element
root
Return the root of the twig in which the element is contained.
twig
Return the twig containing the element.
parent ($optional_condition)
Return the parent of the element, or the first ancestor matching the
$optional_condition
first_child ($optional_condition)
Return the first child of the element, or the first child matching
the $optional_condition
has_child ($optional_condition)
Return the first child of the element, or the first child matching
the $optional_condition (same as first_child)
has_children ($optional_condition)
Return the first child of the element, or the first child matching
the $optional_condition (same as first_child)
first_child_text ($optional_condition)
Return the text of the first child of the element, or the first
child
matching the $optional_condition If there is no first_child then
returns ''. This avoids getting the child, checking for its
existence then getting the text for trivial cases.
Similar methods are available for the other navigation methods:
last_child_text
prev_sibling_text
next_sibling_text
prev_elt_text
next_elt_text
child_text
parent_text
All this methods also exist in "trimmed" variant:
first_child_trimmed_text
last_child_trimmed_text
prev_sibling_trimmed_text
next_sibling_trimmed_text
prev_elt_trimmed_text
next_elt_trimmed_text
child_trimmed_text
parent_trimmed_text
field ($condition)
Same method as "first_child_text" with a different name
fields ($condition_list)
Return the list of field (text of first child matching the
conditions), missing fields are returned as the empty string.
Same method as "first_child_text" with a different name
trimmed_field ($optional_condition)
Same method as "first_child_trimmed_text" with a different name
set_field ($condition, $optional_atts, @list_of_elt_and_strings)
Set the content of the first child of the element that matches
$condition, the rest of the arguments is the same as for
"set_content"
If no child matches $condition _and_ if $condition is a valid XML
element name, then a new element by that name is created and
inserted as the last child.
first_child_matches ($optional_condition)
Return the element if the first child of the element (if it exists)
passes the $optional_condition "undef" otherwise
if( $elt->first_child_matches( 'title')) ...
is equivalent to
if( $elt->{first_child} && $elt->{first_child}->passes( 'title'))
"first_child_is" is another name for this method
Similar methods are available for the other navigation methods:
last_child_matches
prev_sibling_matches
next_sibling_matches
prev_elt_matches
next_elt_matches
child_matches
parent_matches
is_first_child ($optional_condition)
returns true (the element) if the element is the first child of its
parent (optionally that satisfies the $optional_condition)
is_last_child ($optional_condition)
returns true (the element) if the element is the last child of its
parent (optionally that satisfies the $optional_condition)
prev_sibling ($optional_condition)
Return the previous sibling of the element, or the previous sibling
matching $optional_condition
next_sibling ($optional_condition)
Return the next sibling of the element, or the first one matching
$optional_condition.
next_elt ($optional_elt, $optional_condition)
Return the next elt (optionally matching $optional_condition) of the
element. This is defined as the next element which opens after the
current element opens. Which usually means the first child of the
element. Counter-intuitive as it might look this allows you to loop
through the whole document by starting from the root.
The $optional_elt is the root of a subtree. When the "next_elt" is
out of the subtree then the method returns undef. You can then walk
a sub-tree with:
my $elt= $subtree_root;
while( $elt= $elt->next_elt( $subtree_root))
{ # insert processing code here
}
prev_elt ($optional_condition)
Return the previous elt (optionally matching $optional_condition) of
the element. This is the first element which opens before the
current one. It is usually either the last descendant of the
previous sibling or simply the parent
next_n_elt ($offset, $optional_condition)
Return the $offset-th element that matches the $optional_condition
following_elt
Return the following element (as per the XPath following axis)
preceding_elt
Return the preceding element (as per the XPath preceding axis)
following_elts
Return the list of following elements (as per the XPath following
axis)
preceding_elts
Return the list of preceding elements (as per the XPath preceding
axis)
children ($optional_condition)
Return the list of children (optionally which matches
$optional_condition) of the element. The list is in document order.
children_count ($optional_condition)
Return the number of children of the element (optionally which
matches $optional_condition)
children_text ($optional_condition)
In array context, returns an array containing the text of children
of the element (optionally which matches $optional_condition)
In scalar context, returns the concatenation of the text of children
of the element
children_trimmed_text ($optional_condition)
In array context, returns an array containing the trimmed text of
children of the element (optionally which matches
$optional_condition)
In scalar context, returns the concatenation of the trimmed text of
children of the element
children_copy ($optional_condition)
Return a list of elements that are copies of the children of the
element, optionally which matches $optional_condition
descendants ($optional_condition)
Return the list of all descendants (optionally which matches
$optional_condition) of the element. This is the equivalent of the
"getElementsByTagName" of the DOM (by the way, if you are really a
DOM addict, you can use "getElementsByTagName" instead)
getElementsByTagName ($optional_condition)
Same as "descendants"
find_by_tag_name ($optional_condition)
Same as "descendants"
descendants_or_self ($optional_condition)
Same as "descendants" except that the element itself is included in
the list if it matches the $optional_condition
first_descendant ($optional_condition)
Return the first descendant of the element that matches the
condition
last_descendant ($optional_condition)
Return the last descendant of the element that matches the condition
ancestors ($optional_condition)
Return the list of ancestors (optionally matching
$optional_condition) of the element. The list is ordered from the
innermost ancestor to the outermost one
NOTE: the element itself is not part of the list, in order to
include it you will have to use ancestors_or_self
ancestors_or_self ($optional_condition)
Return the list of ancestors (optionally matching
$optional_condition) of the element, including the element (if it
matches the condition>). The list is ordered from the innermost
ancestor to the outermost one
passes ($condition)
Return the element if it passes the $condition
att ($att)
Return the value of attribute $att or "undef"
latt ($att)
Return the value of attribute $att or "undef"
this method is an lvalue, so you can do "$elt->latt( 'foo')= 'bar'"
or "$elt->latt( 'foo')++;"
set_att ($att, $att_value)
Set the attribute of the element to the given value
You can actually set several attributes this way:
$elt->set_att( att1 => "val1", att2 => "val2");
del_att ($att)
Delete the attribute for the element
You can actually delete several attributes at once:
$elt->del_att( 'att1', 'att2', 'att3');
att_exists ($att)
Returns true if the attribute $att exists for the element, false
otherwise
cut Cut the element from the tree. The element still exists, it can be
copied or pasted somewhere else, it is just not attached to the tree
anymore.
Note that the "old" links to the parent, previous and next siblings
can still be accessed using the former_* methods
former_next_sibling
Returns the former next sibling of a cut node (or undef if the node
has not been cut)
This makes it easier to write loops where you cut elements:
my $child= $parent->first_child( 'achild');
while( $child->{'att'}->{'cut'})
{ $child->cut; $child= ($child->{former} && $child->{former}->{next_sibling}); }
former_prev_sibling
Returns the former previous sibling of a cut node (or undef if the
node has not been cut)
former_parent
Returns the former parent of a cut node (or undef if the node has
not been cut)
cut_children ($optional_condition)
Cut all the children of the element (or all of those which satisfy
the $optional_condition).
Return the list of children
cut_descendants ($optional_condition)
Cut all the descendants of the element (or all of those which
satisfy the $optional_condition).
Return the list of descendants
copy ($elt)
Return a copy of the element. The copy is a "deep" copy: all sub-
elements of the element are duplicated.
paste ($optional_position, $ref)
Paste a (previously "cut" or newly generated) element. Die if the
element already belongs to a tree.
Note that the calling element is pasted:
$child->paste( first_child => $existing_parent);
$new_sibling->paste( after => $this_sibling_is_already_in_the_tree);
or
my $new_elt= XML::Twig::Elt->new( tag => $content);
$new_elt->paste( $position => $existing_elt);
Example:
my $t= XML::Twig->new->parse( 'doc.xml')
my $toc= $t->root->new( 'toc');
$toc->paste( $t->root); # $toc is pasted as first child of the root
foreach my $title ($t->findnodes( '/doc/section/title'))
{ my $title_toc= $title->copy;
# paste $title_toc as the last child of toc
$title_toc->paste( last_child => $toc)
}
Position options:
first_child (default)
The element is pasted as the first child of $ref
last_child
The element is pasted as the last child of $ref
before
The element is pasted before $ref, as its previous sibling.
after
The element is pasted after $ref, as its next sibling.
within
In this case an extra argument, $offset, should be supplied. The
element will be pasted in the reference element (or in its first
text child) at the given offset. To achieve this the reference
element will be split at the offset.
Note that you can call directly the underlying method:
paste_before
paste_after
paste_first_child
paste_last_child
paste_within
move ($optional_position, $ref)
Move an element in the tree. This is just a "cut" then a "paste".
The syntax is the same as "paste".
replace ($ref)
Replaces an element in the tree. Sometimes it is just not possible
to"cut" an element then "paste" another in its place, so "replace"
comes in handy. The calling element replaces $ref.
replace_with (@elts)
Replaces the calling element with one or more elements
delete
Cut the element and frees the memory.
prefix ($text, $optional_option)
Add a prefix to an element. If the element is a "PCDATA" element the
text is added to the pcdata, if the elements first child is a
"PCDATA" then the text is added to it's pcdata, otherwise a new
"PCDATA" element is created and pasted as the first child of the
element.
If the option is "asis" then the prefix is added asis: it is created
in a separate "PCDATA" element with an "asis" property. You can then
write:
$elt1->prefix( '<b>', 'asis');
to create a "<b>" in the output of "print".
suffix ($text, $optional_option)
Add a suffix to an element. If the element is a "PCDATA" element the
text is added to the pcdata, if the elements last child is a
"PCDATA" then the text is added to it's pcdata, otherwise a new
PCDATA element is created and pasted as the last child of the
element.
If the option is "asis" then the suffix is added asis: it is created
in a separate "PCDATA" element with an "asis" property. You can then
write:
$elt2->suffix( '</b>', 'asis');
trim
Trim the element in-place: spaces at the beginning and at the end of
the element are discarded and multiple spaces within the element (or
its descendants) are replaced by a single space.
Note that in some cases you can still end up with multiple spaces,
if they are split between several elements:
<doc> text <b> hah! </b> yep</doc>
gets trimmed to
<doc>text <b> hah! </b> yep</doc>
This is somewhere in between a bug and a feature.
normalize
merge together all consecutive pcdata elements in the element (if
for example you have turned some elements into pcdata using "erase",
this will give you a "clean" element in which there all text
fragments are as long as possible).
simplify (%options)
Return a data structure suspiciously similar to XML::Simple's.
Options are identical to XMLin options, see XML::Simple doc for more
details (or use DATA::dumper or YAML to dump the data structure)
Note: there is no magic here, if you write "$twig->parsefile( $file
)->simplify();" then it will load the entire document in memory. I
am afraid you will have to put some work into it to get just the
bits you want and discard the rest. Look at the synopsis or the
XML::Twig 101 section at the top of the docs for more information.
content_key
forcearray
keyattr
noattr
normalize_space
aka normalise_space
variables (%var_hash)
%var_hash is a hash { name => value }
This option allows variables in the XML to be expanded when the
file is read. (there is no facility for putting the variable
names back if you regenerate XML using XMLout).
A 'variable' is any text of the form ${name} (or $name) which
occurs in an attribute value or in the text content of an
element. If 'name' matches a key in the supplied hashref,
${name} will be replaced with the corresponding value from the
hashref. If no matching key is found, the variable will not be
replaced.
var_att ($attribute_name)
This option gives the name of an attribute that will be used to
create variables in the XML:
<dirs>
<dir name="prefix">/usr/local</dir>
<dir name="exec_prefix">$prefix/bin</dir>
</dirs>
use "var => 'name'" to get $prefix replaced by /usr/local in the
generated data structure
By default variables are captured by the following regexp:
/$(\w+)/
var_regexp (regexp)
This option changes the regexp used to capture variables. The
variable name should be in $1
group_tags { grouping tag => grouped tag, grouping tag 2 => grouped
tag 2...}
Option used to simplify the structure: elements listed will not
be used. Their children will be, they will be considered
children of the element parent.
If the element is:
<config host="laptop.xmltwig.org">
<server>localhost</server>
<dirs>
<dir name="base">/home/mrodrigu/standards</dir>
<dir name="tools">$base/tools</dir>
</dirs>
<templates>
<template name="std_def">std_def.templ</template>
<template name="dummy">dummy</template>
</templates>
</config>
Then calling simplify with "group_tags => { dirs => 'dir',
templates => 'template'}" makes the data structure be exactly as
if the start and end tags for "dirs" and "templates" were not
there.
A YAML dump of the structure
base: '/home/mrodrigu/standards'
host: laptop.xmltwig.org
server: localhost
template:
- std_def.templ
- dummy.templ
tools: '$base/tools'
split_at ($offset)
Split a text ("PCDATA" or "CDATA") element in 2 at $offset, the
original element now holds the first part of the string and a new
element holds the right part. The new element is returned
If the element is not a text element then the first text child of
the element is split
split ( $optional_regexp, $tag1, $atts1, $tag2, $atts2...)
Split the text descendants of an element in place, the text is split
using the $regexp, if the regexp includes () then the matched
separators will be wrapped in elements. $1 is wrapped in $tag1,
with attributes $atts1 if $atts1 is given (as a hashref), $2 is
wrapped in $tag2...
if $elt is "<p>tati tata <b>tutu tati titi</b> tata tati tata</p>"
$elt->split( qr/(ta)ti/, 'foo', {type => 'toto'} )
will change $elt to
<p><foo type="toto">ta</foo> tata <b>tutu <foo type="toto">ta</foo>
titi</b> tata <foo type="toto">ta</foo> tata</p>
The regexp can be passed either as a string or as "qr//" (perl 5.005
and later), it defaults to \s+ just as the "split" built-in (but
this would be quite a useless behaviour without the $optional_tag
parameter)
$optional_tag defaults to PCDATA or CDATA, depending on the initial
element type
The list of descendants is returned (including un-touched original
elements and newly created ones)
mark ( $regexp, $optional_tag, $optional_attribute_ref)
This method behaves exactly as split, except only the newly created
elements are returned
wrap_children ( $regexp_string, $tag, $optional_attribute_hashref)
Wrap the children of the element that match the regexp in an element
$tag. If $optional_attribute_hashref is passed then the new element
will have these attributes.
The $regexp_string includes tags, within pointy brackets, as in
"<title><para>+" and the usual Perl modifiers (+*?...). Tags can be
further qualified with attributes: "<para type="warning"
classif="cosmic_secret">+". The values for attributes should be xml-
escaped: "<candy type="M&Ms">*" ("<", "&" ">" and """ should be
escaped).
Note that elements might get extra "id" attributes in the process.
See add_id. Use strip_att to remove unwanted id's.
Here is an example:
If the element $elt has the following content:
<elt>
<p>para 1</p>
<l_l1_1>list 1 item 1 para 1</l_l1_1>
<l_l1>list 1 item 1 para 2</l_l1>
<l_l1_n>list 1 item 2 para 1 (only para)</l_l1_n>
<l_l1_n>list 1 item 3 para 1</l_l1_n>
<l_l1>list 1 item 3 para 2</l_l1>
<l_l1>list 1 item 3 para 3</l_l1>
<l_l1_1>list 2 item 1 para 1</l_l1_1>
<l_l1>list 2 item 1 para 2</l_l1>
<l_l1_n>list 2 item 2 para 1 (only para)</l_l1_n>
<l_l1_n>list 2 item 3 para 1</l_l1_n>
<l_l1>list 2 item 3 para 2</l_l1>
<l_l1>list 2 item 3 para 3</l_l1>
</elt>
Then the code
$elt->wrap_children( q{<l_l1_1><l_l1>*} , li => { type => "ul1" });
$elt->wrap_children( q{<l_l1_n><l_l1>*} , li => { type => "ul" });
$elt->wrap_children( q{<li type="ul1"><li type="ul">+}, "ul");
$elt->strip_att( 'id');
$elt->strip_att( 'type');
$elt->print;
will output:
<elt>
<p>para 1</p>
<ul>
<li>
<l_l1_1>list 1 item 1 para 1</l_l1_1>
<l_l1>list 1 item 1 para 2</l_l1>
</li>
<li>
<l_l1_n>list 1 item 2 para 1 (only para)</l_l1_n>
</li>
<li>
<l_l1_n>list 1 item 3 para 1</l_l1_n>
<l_l1>list 1 item 3 para 2</l_l1>
<l_l1>list 1 item 3 para 3</l_l1>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<l_l1_1>list 2 item 1 para 1</l_l1_1>
<l_l1>list 2 item 1 para 2</l_l1>
</li>
<li>
<l_l1_n>list 2 item 2 para 1 (only para)</l_l1_n>
</li>
<li>
<l_l1_n>list 2 item 3 para 1</l_l1_n>
<l_l1>list 2 item 3 para 2</l_l1>
<l_l1>list 2 item 3 para 3</l_l1>
</li>
</ul>
</elt>
subs_text ($regexp, $replace)
subs_text does text substitution, similar to perl's " s///"
operator.
$regexp must be a perl regexp, created with the "qr" operator.
$replace can include "$1, $2"... from the $regexp. It can also be
used to create element and entities, by using "&elt( tag => { att =>
val }, text)" (similar syntax as "new") and &ent( name).
Here is a rather complex example:
$elt->subs_text( qr{(?<!do not )link to (http://([^\s,]*))},
'see &elt( a =>{ href => $1 }, $2)'
);
This will replace text like link to http://www.xmltwig.org by see <a
href="www.xmltwig.org">www.xmltwig.org</a>, but not do not link
to...
Generating entities (here replacing spaces with ):
$elt->subs_text( qr{ }, '&ent( " ")');
or, using a variable:
my $ent=" ";
$elt->subs_text( qr{ }, "&ent( '$ent')");
Note that the substitution is always global, as in using the "g"
modifier in a perl substitution, and that it is performed on all
text descendants of the element.
Bug: in the $regexp, you can only use "\1", "\2"... if the
replacement expression does not include elements or attributes. eg
$t->subs_text( qr/((t[aiou])\2)/, '$2'); # ok, replaces toto, tata, titi, tutu by to, ta, ti, tu
$t->subs_text( qr/((t[aiou])\2)/, '&elt(p => $1)' ); # NOK, does not find toto...
add_id ($optional_coderef)
Add an id to the element.
The id is an attribute, "id" by default, see the "id" option for
XML::Twig "new" to change it. Use an id starting with "#" to get an
id that's not output by print, flush or sprint, yet that allows you
to use the elt_id method to get the element easily.
If the element already has an id, no new id is generated.
By default the method create an id of the form "twig_id_<nnnn>",
where "<nnnn>" is a number, incremented each time the method is
called successfully.
set_id_seed ($prefix)
by default the id generated by "add_id" is "twig_id_<nnnn>",
"set_id_seed" changes the prefix to $prefix and resets the number to
1
strip_att ($att)
Remove the attribute $att from all descendants of the element
(including the element)
Return the element
change_att_name ($old_name, $new_name)
Change the name of the attribute from $old_name to $new_name. If
there is no attribute $old_name nothing happens.
lc_attnames
Lower cases the name all the attributes of the element.
sort_children_on_value( %options)
Sort the children of the element in place according to their text.
All children are sorted.
Return the element, with its children sorted.
%options are
type : numeric | alpha (default: alpha)
order : normal | reverse (default: normal)
Return the element, with its children sorted
sort_children_on_att ($att, %options)
Sort the children of the element in place according to attribute
$att. %options are the same as for "sort_children_on_value"
Return the element.
sort_children_on_field ($tag, %options)
Sort the children of the element in place, according to the field
$tag (the text of the first child of the child with this tag).
%options are the same as for "sort_children_on_value".
Return the element, with its children sorted
sort_children( $get_key, %options)
Sort the children of the element in place. The $get_key argument is
a reference to a function that returns the sort key when passed an
element.
For example:
$elt->sort_children( sub { $_[0]->{'att'}->{"nb"} + $_[0]->text },
type => 'numeric', order => 'reverse'
);
field_to_att ($cond, $att)
Turn the text of the first sub-element matched by $cond into the
value of attribute $att of the element. If $att is omitted then
$cond is used as the name of the attribute, which makes sense only
if $cond is a valid element (and attribute) name.
The sub-element is then cut.
att_to_field ($att, $tag)
Take the value of attribute $att and create a sub-element $tag as
first child of the element. If $tag is omitted then $att is used as
the name of the sub-element.
get_xpath ($xpath, $optional_offset)
Return a list of elements satisfying the $xpath. $xpath is an XPATH-
like expression.
A subset of the XPATH abbreviated syntax is covered:
tag
tag[1] (or any other positive number)
tag[last()]
tag[@att] (the attribute exists for the element)
tag[@att="val"]
tag[@att=~ /regexp/]
tag[att1="val1" and att2="val2"]
tag[att1="val1" or att2="val2"]
tag[string()="toto"] (returns tag elements which text (as per the text method)
is toto)
tag[string()=~/regexp/] (returns tag elements which text (as per the text
method) matches regexp)
expressions can start with / (search starts at the document root)
expressions can start with . (search starts at the current element)
// can be used to get all descendants instead of just direct children
* matches any tag
So the following examples from the XPath
recommendation<http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath.html#path-abbrev> work:
para selects the para element children of the context node
* selects all element children of the context node
para[1] selects the first para child of the context node
para[last()] selects the last para child of the context node
*/para selects all para grandchildren of the context node
/doc/chapter[5]/section[2] selects the second section of the fifth chapter
of the doc
chapter//para selects the para element descendants of the chapter element
children of the context node
//para selects all the para descendants of the document root and thus selects
all para elements in the same document as the context node
//olist/item selects all the item elements in the same document as the
context node that have an olist parent
.//para selects the para element descendants of the context node
.. selects the parent of the context node
para[@type="warning"] selects all para children of the context node that have
a type attribute with value warning
employee[@secretary and @assistant] selects all the employee children of the
context node that have both a secretary attribute and an assistant
attribute
The elements will be returned in the document order.
If $optional_offset is used then only one element will be returned,
the one with the appropriate offset in the list, starting at 0
Quoting and interpolating variables can be a pain when the Perl
syntax and the XPATH syntax collide, so use alternate quoting
mechanisms like q or qq (I like q{} and qq{} myself).
Here are some more examples to get you started:
my $p1= "p1";
my $p2= "p2";
my @res= $t->get_xpath( qq{p[string( "$p1") or string( "$p2")]});
my $a= "a1";
my @res= $t->get_xpath( qq{//*[@att="$a"]});
my $val= "a1";
my $exp= qq{//p[ \@att='$val']}; # you need to use \@ or you will get a warning
my @res= $t->get_xpath( $exp);
Note that the only supported regexps delimiters are / and that you
must backslash all / in regexps AND in regular strings.
XML::Twig does not provide natively full XPATH support, but you can
use "XML::Twig::XPath" to get "findnodes" to use "XML::XPath" as the
XPath engine, with full coverage of the spec.
"XML::Twig::XPath" to get "findnodes" to use "XML::XPath" as the
XPath engine, with full coverage of the spec.
find_nodes
same as"get_xpath"
findnodes
same as "get_xpath"
text @optional_options
Return a string consisting of all the "PCDATA" and "CDATA" in an
element, without any tags. The text is not XML-escaped: base
entities such as "&" and "<" are not escaped.
The '"no_recurse"' option will only return the text of the element,
not of any included sub-elements (same as "text_only").
text_only
Same as "text" except that the text returned doesn't include the
text of sub-elements.
trimmed_text
Same as "text" except that the text is trimmed: leading and trailing
spaces are discarded, consecutive spaces are collapsed
set_text ($string)
Set the text for the element: if the element is a "PCDATA", just set
its text, otherwise cut all the children of the element and create a
single "PCDATA" child for it, which holds the text.
merge ($elt2)
Move the content of $elt2 within the element
insert ($tag1, [$optional_atts1], $tag2, [$optional_atts2],...)
For each tag in the list inserts an element $tag as the only child
of the element. The element gets the optional attributes
in"$optional_atts<n>." All children of the element are set as
children of the new element. The upper level element is returned.
$p->insert( table => { border=> 1}, 'tr', 'td')
put $p in a table with a visible border, a single "tr" and a single
"td" and return the "table" element:
<p><table border="1"><tr><td>original content of p</td></tr></table></p>
wrap_in (@tag)
Wrap elements in @tag as the successive ancestors of the element,
returns the new element. "$elt->wrap_in( 'td', 'tr', 'table')"
wraps the element as a single cell in a table for example.
Optionally each tag can be followed by a hashref of attributes, that
will be set on the wrapping element:
$elt->wrap_in( p => { class => "advisory" }, div => { class => "intro", id => "div_intro" });
insert_new_elt ($opt_position, $tag, $opt_atts_hashref, @opt_content)
Combines a "new " and a "paste ": creates a new element using $tag,
$opt_atts_hashref and @opt_content which are arguments similar to
those for "new", then paste it, using $opt_position or
'first_child', relative to $elt.
Return the newly created element
erase
Erase the element: the element is deleted and all of its children
are pasted in its place.
set_content ( $optional_atts, @list_of_elt_and_strings) (
$optional_atts, '#EMPTY')
Set the content for the element, from a list of strings and
elements. Cuts all the element children, then pastes the list
elements as the children. This method will create a "PCDATA"
element for any strings in the list.
The $optional_atts argument is the ref of a hash of attributes. If
this argument is used then the previous attributes are deleted,
otherwise they are left untouched.
WARNING: if you rely on ID's then you will have to set the id
yourself. At this point the element does not belong to a twig yet,
so the ID attribute is not known so it won't be stored in the ID
list.
A content of '"#EMPTY"' creates an empty element;
namespace ($optional_prefix)
Return the URI of the namespace that $optional_prefix or the element
name belongs to. If the name doesn't belong to any namespace,
"undef" is returned.
local_name
Return the local name (without the prefix) for the element
ns_prefix
Return the namespace prefix for the element
current_ns_prefixes
Return a list of namespace prefixes valid for the element. The order
of the prefixes in the list has no meaning. If the default namespace
is currently bound, '' appears in the list.
inherit_att ($att, @optional_tag_list)
Return the value of an attribute inherited from parent tags. The
value returned is found by looking for the attribute in the element
then in turn in each of its ancestors. If the @optional_tag_list is
supplied only those ancestors whose tag is in the list will be
checked.
all_children_are ($optional_condition)
return 1 if all children of the element pass the
$optional_condition, 0 otherwise
level ($optional_condition)
Return the depth of the element in the twig (root is 0). If
$optional_condition is given then only ancestors that match the
condition are counted.
WARNING: in a tree created using the "twig_roots" option this will
not return the level in the document tree, level 0 will be the
document root, level 1 will be the "twig_roots" elements. During the
parsing (in a "twig_handler") you can use the "depth" method on the
twig object to get the real parsing depth.
in ($potential_parent)
Return true if the element is in the potential_parent
($potential_parent is an element)
in_context ($cond, $optional_level)
Return true if the element is included in an element which passes
$cond optionally within $optional_level levels. The returned value
is the including element.
pcdata
Return the text of a "PCDATA" element or "undef" if the element is
not "PCDATA".
pcdata_xml_string
Return the text of a "PCDATA" element or undef if the element is not
"PCDATA". The text is "XML-escaped" ('&' and '<' are replaced by
'&' and '<')
set_pcdata ($text)
Set the text of a "PCDATA" element. This method does not check that
the element is indeed a "PCDATA" so usually you should use
"set_text" instead.
append_pcdata ($text)
Add the text at the end of a "PCDATA" element.
is_cdata
Return 1 if the element is a "CDATA" element, returns 0 otherwise.
is_text
Return 1 if the element is a "CDATA" or "PCDATA" element, returns 0
otherwise.
cdata
Return the text of a "CDATA" element or "undef" if the element is
not "CDATA".
cdata_string
Return the XML string of a "CDATA" element, including the opening
and closing markers.
set_cdata ($text)
Set the text of a "CDATA" element.
append_cdata ($text)
Add the text at the end of a "CDATA" element.
remove_cdata
Turns all "CDATA" sections in the element into regular "PCDATA"
elements. This is useful when converting XML to HTML, as browsers do
not support CDATA sections.
extra_data
Return the extra_data (comments and PI's) attached to an element
set_extra_data ($extra_data)
Set the extra_data (comments and PI's) attached to an element
append_extra_data ($extra_data)
Append extra_data to the existing extra_data before the element (if
no previous extra_data exists then it is created)
set_asis
Set a property of the element that causes it to be output without
being XML escaped by the print functions: if it contains "a < b" it
will be output as such and not as "a < b". This can be useful to
create text elements that will be output as markup. Note that all
"PCDATA" descendants of the element are also marked as having the
property (they are the ones that are actually impacted by the
change).
If the element is a "CDATA" element it will also be output asis,
without the "CDATA" markers. The same goes for any "CDATA"
descendant of the element
set_not_asis
Unsets the "asis" property for the element and its text descendants.
is_asis
Return the "asis" property status of the element ( 1 or "undef")
closed
Return true if the element has been closed. Might be useful if you
are somewhere in the tree, during the parse, and have no idea
whether a parent element is completely loaded or not.
get_type
Return the type of the element: '"#ELT"' for "real" elements, or
'"#PCDATA"', '"#CDATA"', '"#COMMENT"', '"#ENT"', '"#PI"'
is_elt
Return the tag if the element is a "real" element, or 0 if it is
"PCDATA", "CDATA"...
contains_only_text
Return 1 if the element does not contain any other "real" element
contains_only ($exp)
Return the list of children if all children of the element match the
expression $exp
if( $para->contains_only( 'tt')) { ... }
contains_a_single ($exp)
If the element contains a single child that matches the expression
$exp returns that element. Otherwise returns 0.
is_field
same as "contains_only_text"
is_pcdata
Return 1 if the element is a "PCDATA" element, returns 0 otherwise.
is_ent
Return 1 if the element is an entity (an unexpanded entity) element,
return 0 otherwise.
is_empty
Return 1 if the element is empty, 0 otherwise
set_empty
Flags the element as empty. No further check is made, so if the
element is actually not empty the output will be messed. The only
effect of this method is that the output will be "<tag
att="value""/>".
set_not_empty
Flags the element as not empty. if it is actually empty then the
element will be output as "<tag att="value""></tag>"
is_pi
Return 1 if the element is a processing instruction ("#PI") element,
return 0 otherwise.
target
Return the target of a processing instruction
set_target ($target)
Set the target of a processing instruction
data
Return the data part of a processing instruction
set_data ($data)
Set the data of a processing instruction
set_pi ($target, $data)
Set the target and data of a processing instruction
pi_string
Return the string form of a processing instruction ("<?target
data?>")
is_comment
Return 1 if the element is a comment ("#COMMENT") element, return 0
otherwise.
set_comment ($comment_text)
Set the text for a comment
comment
Return the content of a comment (just the text, not the "<!--" and
"-->")
comment_string
Return the XML string for a comment ("<!-- comment -->")
Note that an XML comment cannot start or end with a '-', or include
'--' (http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/REC-xml-20081126/#sec-comments), if
that is the case (because you have created the comment yourself
presumably, as it could not be in the input XML), then a space will
be inserted before an initial '-', after a trailing one or between
two '-' in the comment (which could presumably mangle javascript
"hidden" in an XHTML comment);
set_ent ($entity)
Set an (non-expanded) entity ("#ENT"). $entity) is the entity text
("&ent;")
ent Return the entity for an entity ("#ENT") element ("&ent;")
ent_name
Return the entity name for an entity ("#ENT") element ("ent")
ent_string
Return the entity, either expanded if the expanded version is
available, or non-expanded ("&ent;") otherwise
child ($offset, $optional_condition)
Return the $offset-th child of the element, optionally the
$offset-th child that matches $optional_condition. The children are
treated as a list, so "$elt->child( 0)" is the first child, while
"$elt->child( -1)" is the last child.
child_text ($offset, $optional_condition)
Return the text of a child or "undef" if the sibling does not exist.
Arguments are the same as child.
last_child ($optional_condition)
Return the last child of the element, or the last child matching
$optional_condition (ie the last of the element children matching
the condition).
last_child_text ($optional_condition)
Same as "first_child_text" but for the last child.
sibling ($offset, $optional_condition)
Return the next or previous $offset-th sibling of the element, or
the $offset-th one matching $optional_condition. If $offset is
negative then a previous sibling is returned, if $offset is positive
then a next sibling is returned. "$offset=0" returns the element if
there is no condition or if the element matches the condition>,
"undef" otherwise.
sibling_text ($offset, $optional_condition)
Return the text of a sibling or "undef" if the sibling does not
exist. Arguments are the same as "sibling".
prev_siblings ($optional_condition)
Return the list of previous siblings (optionally matching
$optional_condition) for the element. The elements are ordered in
document order.
next_siblings ($optional_condition)
Return the list of siblings (optionally matching
$optional_condition) following the element. The elements are ordered
in document order.
siblings ($optional_condition)
Return the list of siblings (optionally matching
$optional_condition) of the element (excluding the element itself).
The elements are ordered in document order.
pos ($optional_condition)
Return the position of the element in the children list. The first
child has a position of 1 (as in XPath).
If the $optional_condition is given then only siblings that match
the condition are counted. If the element itself does not match the
condition then 0 is returned.
atts
Return a hash ref containing the element attributes
set_atts ({ att1=>$att1_val, att2=> $att2_val... })
Set the element attributes with the hash ref supplied as the
argument. The previous attributes are lost (ie the attributes set by
"set_atts" replace all of the attributes of the element).
You can also pass a list instead of a hashref: "$elt->set_atts( att1
=> 'val1',...)"
del_atts
Deletes all the element attributes.
att_nb
Return the number of attributes for the element
has_atts
Return true if the element has attributes (in fact return the number
of attributes, thus being an alias to "att_nb"
has_no_atts
Return true if the element has no attributes, false (0) otherwise
att_names
return a list of the attribute names for the element
att_xml_string ($att, $options)
Return the attribute value, where '&', '<' and quote (" or the value
of the quote option at twig creation) are XML-escaped.
The options are passed as a hashref, setting "escape_gt" to a true
value will also escape '>' ($elt( 'myatt', { escape_gt => 1 });
set_id ($id)
Set the "id" attribute of the element to the value. See "elt_id "
to change the id attribute name
id Gets the id attribute value
del_id ($id)
Deletes the "id" attribute of the element and remove it from the id
list for the document
class
Return the "class" attribute for the element (methods on the "class"
attribute are quite convenient when dealing with XHTML, or plain XML
that will eventually be displayed using CSS)
lclass
same as class, except that this method is an lvalue, so you can do
"$elt->lclass= "foo""
set_class ($class)
Set the "class" attribute for the element to $class
add_class ($class)
Add $class to the element "class" attribute: the new class is added
only if it is not already present.
Note that classes are then sorted alphabetically, so the "class"
attribute can be changed even if the class is already there
remove_class ($class)
Remove $class from the element "class" attribute.
Note that classes are then sorted alphabetically, so the "class"
attribute can be changed even if the class is already there
add_to_class ($class)
alias for add_class
att_to_class ($att)
Set the "class" attribute to the value of attribute $att
add_att_to_class ($att)
Add the value of attribute $att to the "class" attribute of the
element
move_att_to_class ($att)
Add the value of attribute $att to the "class" attribute of the
element and delete the attribute
tag_to_class
Set the "class" attribute of the element to the element tag
add_tag_to_class
Add the element tag to its "class" attribute
set_tag_class ($new_tag)
Add the element tag to its "class" attribute and sets the tag to
$new_tag
in_class ($class)
Return true (1) if the element is in the class $class (if $class is
one of the tokens in the element "class" attribute)
tag_to_span
Change the element tag tp "span" and set its class to the old tag
tag_to_div
Change the element tag tp "div" and set its class to the old tag
DESTROY
Frees the element from memory.
start_tag
Return the string for the start tag for the element, including the
"/>" at the end of an empty element tag
end_tag
Return the string for the end tag of an element. For an empty
element, this returns the empty string ('').
xml_string @optional_options
Equivalent to "$elt->sprint( 1)", returns the string for the entire
element, excluding the element's tags (but nested element tags are
present)
The '"no_recurse"' option will only return the text of the element,
not of any included sub-elements (same as "xml_text_only").
inner_xml
Another synonym for xml_string
outer_xml
Another synonym for sprint
xml_text
Return the text of the element, encoded (and processed by the
current "output_filter" or "output_encoding" options, without any
tag.
xml_text_only
Same as "xml_text" except that the text returned doesn't include the
text of sub-elements.
set_pretty_print ($style)
Set the pretty print method, amongst '"none"' (default), '"nsgmls"',
'"nice"', '"indented"', '"record"' and '"record_c"'
pretty_print styles:
none
the default, no "\n" is used
nsgmls
nsgmls style, with "\n" added within tags
nice
adds "\n" wherever possible (NOT SAFE, can lead to invalid XML)
indented
same as "nice" plus indents elements (NOT SAFE, can lead to
invalid XML)
record
table-oriented pretty print, one field per line
record_c
table-oriented pretty print, more compact than "record", one
record per line
set_empty_tag_style ($style)
Set the method to output empty tags, amongst '"normal"' (default),
'"html"', and '"expand"',
"normal" outputs an empty tag '"<tag/>"', "html" adds a space '"<tag
/>"' for elements that can be empty in XHTML and "expand" outputs
'"<tag></tag>"'
set_remove_cdata ($flag)
set (or unset) the flag that forces the twig to output CDATA
sections as regular (escaped) PCDATA
set_indent ($string)
Set the indentation for the indented pretty print style (default is
2 spaces)
set_quote ($quote)
Set the quotes used for attributes. can be '"double"' (default) or
'"single"'
cmp ($elt)
Compare the order of the 2 elements in a twig.
C<$a> is the <A>..</A> element, C<$b> is the <B>...</B> element
document $a->cmp( $b)
<A> ... </A> ... <B> ... </B> -1
<A> ... <B> ... </B> ... </A> -1
<B> ... </B> ... <A> ... </A> 1
<B> ... <A> ... </A> ... </B> 1
$a == $b 0
$a and $b not in the same tree undef
before ($elt)
Return 1 if $elt starts before the element, 0 otherwise. If the 2
elements are not in the same twig then return "undef".
if( $a->cmp( $b) == -1) { return 1; } else { return 0; }
after ($elt)
Return 1 if $elt starts after the element, 0 otherwise. If the 2
elements are not in the same twig then return "undef".
if( $a->cmp( $b) == -1) { return 1; } else { return 0; }
other comparison methods
lt
le
gt
ge
path
Return the element context in a form similar to XPath's short form:
'"/root/tag1/../tag"'
xpath
Return a unique XPath expression that can be used to find the
element again.
It looks like "/doc/sect[3]/title": unique elements do not have an
index, the others do.
flush
flushes the twig up to the current element (strictly equivalent to
"$elt->root->flush")
private methods
Low-level methods on the twig:
set_parent ($parent)
set_first_child ($first_child)
set_last_child ($last_child)
set_prev_sibling ($prev_sibling)
set_next_sibling ($next_sibling)
set_twig_current
del_twig_current
twig_current
contains_text
Those methods should not be used, unless of course you find some
creative and interesting, not to mention useful, ways to do it.
cond
Most of the navigation functions accept a condition as an optional
argument The first element (or all elements for "children " or
"ancestors ") that passes the condition is returned.
The condition is a single step of an XPath expression using the XPath
subset defined by "get_xpath". Additional conditions are:
The condition can be
#ELT
return a "real" element (not a PCDATA, CDATA, comment or pi element)
#TEXT
return a PCDATA or CDATA element
regular expression
return an element whose tag matches the regexp. The regexp has to be
created with "qr//" (hence this is available only on perl 5.005 and
above)
code reference
applies the code, passing the current element as argument, if the
code returns true then the element is returned, if it returns false
then the code is applied to the next candidate.
XML::Twig::XPath
XML::Twig implements a subset of XPath through the "get_xpath" method.
If you want to use the whole XPath power, then you can use
"XML::Twig::XPath" instead. In this case "XML::Twig" uses "XML::XPath"
to execute XPath queries. You will of course need "XML::XPath"
installed to be able to use "XML::Twig::XPath".
See XML::XPath for more information.
The methods you can use are:
findnodes ($path)
return a list of nodes found by $path.
findnodes_as_string ($path)
return the nodes found reproduced as XML. The result is not
guaranteed to be valid XML though.
findvalue ($path)
return the concatenation of the text content of the result nodes
In order for "XML::XPath" to be used as the XPath engine the following
methods are included in "XML::Twig":
in XML::Twig
getRootNode
getParentNode
getChildNodes
in XML::Twig::Elt
string_value
toString
getName
getRootNode
getNextSibling
getPreviousSibling
isElementNode
isTextNode
isPI
isPINode
isProcessingInstructionNode
isComment
isCommentNode
getTarget
getChildNodes
getElementById
XML::Twig::XPath::Elt
The methods you can use are the same as on "XML::Twig::XPath" elements:
findnodes ($path)
return a list of nodes found by $path.
findnodes_as_string ($path)
return the nodes found reproduced as XML. The result is not
guaranteed to be valid XML though.
findvalue ($path)
return the concatenation of the text content of the result nodes
XML::Twig::Entity_list
new Create an entity list.
add ($ent)
Add an entity to an entity list.
add_new_ent ($name, $val, $sysid, $pubid, $ndata, $param)
Create a new entity and add it to the entity list
delete ($ent or $tag).
Delete an entity (defined by its name or by the Entity object) from
the list.
print ($optional_filehandle)
Print the entity list.
list
Return the list as an array
XML::Twig::Entity
new ($name, $val, $sysid, $pubid, $ndata, $param)
Same arguments as the Entity handler for XML::Parser.
print ($optional_filehandle)
Print an entity declaration.
name
Return the name of the entity
val Return the value of the entity
sysid
Return the system id for the entity (for NDATA entities)
pubid
Return the public id for the entity (for NDATA entities)
ndata
Return true if the entity is an NDATA entity
param
Return true if the entity is a parameter entity
text
Return the entity declaration text.
XML::Twig::Notation_list
new Create an notation list.
add ($notation)
Add an notation to an notation list.
add_new_notation ($name, $base, $sysid, $pubid)
Create a new notation and add it to the notation list
delete ($notation or $tag).
Delete an notation (defined by its name or by the Notation object)
from the list.
print ($optional_filehandle)
Print the notation list.
list
Return the list as an array
XML::Twig::Notation
new ($name, $base, $sysid, $pubid)
Same argumnotations as the Notation handler for XML::Parser.
print ($optional_filehandle)
Print an notation declaration.
name
Return the name of the notation
base
Return the base to be used for resolving a relative URI
sysid
Return the system id for the notation
pubid
Return the public id for the notation
text
Return the notation declaration text.
EXAMPLES
Additional examples (and a complete tutorial) can be found on the
XML::Twig Page<http://www.xmltwig.org/xmltwig/>
To figure out what flush does call the following script with an XML file
and an element name as arguments
use XML::Twig;
my ($file, $elt)= @ARGV;
my $t= XML::Twig->new( twig_handlers =>
{ $elt => sub {$_[0]->flush; print "\n[flushed here]\n";} });
$t->parsefile( $file, ErrorContext => 2);
$t->flush;
print "\n";
NOTES
Subclassing XML::Twig
Useful methods:
elt_class
In order to subclass "XML::Twig" you will probably need to subclass
also "XML::Twig::Elt". Use the "elt_class" option when you create
the "XML::Twig" object to get the elements created in a different
class (which should be a subclass of "XML::Twig::Elt".
add_options
If you inherit "XML::Twig" new method but want to add more options
to it you can use this method to prevent XML::Twig to issue warnings
for those additional options.
DTD Handling
There are 3 possibilities here. They are:
No DTD
No doctype, no DTD information, no entity information, the world is
simple...
Internal DTD
The XML document includes an internal DTD, and maybe entity
declarations.
If you use the load_DTD option when creating the twig the DTD
information and the entity declarations can be accessed.
The DTD and the entity declarations will be "flush"'ed (or
"print"'ed) either as is (if they have not been modified) or as
reconstructed (poorly, comments are lost, order is not kept, due to
it's content this DTD should not be viewed by anyone) if they have
been modified. You can also modify them directly by changing the
"$twig->{twig_doctype}->{internal}" field (straight from
XML::Parser, see the "Doctype" handler doc)
External DTD
The XML document includes a reference to an external DTD, and maybe
entity declarations.
If you use the "load_DTD" when creating the twig the DTD information
and the entity declarations can be accessed. The entity declarations
will be "flush"'ed (or "print"'ed) either as is (if they have not
been modified) or as reconstructed (badly, comments are lost, order
is not kept).
You can change the doctype through the "$twig->set_doctype" method
and print the dtd through the "$twig->dtd_text" or
"$twig->dtd_print"
methods.
If you need to modify the entity list this is probably the easiest
way to do it.
Flush
Remember that element handlers are called when the element is CLOSED, so
if you have handlers for nested elements the inner handlers will be
called first. It makes it for example trickier than it would seem to
number nested sections (or clauses, or divs), as the titles in the inner
sections are handled before the outer sections.
BUGS
segfault during parsing
This happens when parsing huge documents, or lots of small ones,
with a version of Perl before 5.16.
This is due to a bug in the way weak references are handled in Perl
itself.
The fix is either to upgrade to Perl 5.16 or later ("perlbrew" is a
great tool to manage several installations of perl on the same
machine).
Another, NOT RECOMMENDED, way of fixing the problem, is to switch
off weak references by writing "XML::Twig::_set_weakrefs( 0);" at
the top of the code. This is totally unsupported, and may lead to
other problems though,
entity handling
Due to XML::Parser behaviour, non-base entities in attribute values
disappear if they are not declared in the document: "att="val&ent;""
will be turned into "att => val", unless you use the "keep_encoding"
argument to "XML::Twig->new"
DTD handling
The DTD handling methods are quite bugged. No one uses them and it
seems very difficult to get them to work in all cases, including
with several slightly incompatible versions of XML::Parser and of
libexpat.
Basically you can read the DTD, output it back properly, and update
entities, but not much more.
So use XML::Twig with standalone documents, or with documents
referring to an external DTD, but don't expect it to properly parse
and even output back the DTD.
memory leak
If you use a REALLY old Perl (5.005!) and a lot of twigs you might
find that you leak quite a lot of memory (about 2Ks per twig). You
can use the "dispose " method to free that memory after you are
done.
If you create elements the same thing might happen, use the "delete"
method to get rid of them.
Alternatively installing the "Scalar::Util" (or "WeakRef") module on
a version of Perl that supports it (>5.6.0) will get rid of the
memory leaks automagically.
ID list
The ID list is NOT updated when elements are cut or deleted.
change_gi
This method will not function properly if you do:
$twig->change_gi( $old1, $new);
$twig->change_gi( $old2, $new);
$twig->change_gi( $new, $even_newer);
sanity check on XML::Parser method calls
XML::Twig should really prevent calls to some XML::Parser methods,
especially the "setHandlers" method.
pretty printing
Pretty printing (at least using the '"indented"' style) is hard to
get right! Only elements that belong to the document will be
properly indented. Printing elements that do not belong to the twig
makes it impossible for XML::Twig to figure out their depth, and
thus their indentation level.
Also there is an unavoidable bug when using "flush" and pretty
printing for elements with mixed content that start with an embedded
element:
<elt><b>b</b>toto<b>bold</b></elt>
will be output as
<elt>
<b>b</b>toto<b>bold</b></elt>
if you flush the twig when you find the "<b>" element
Globals
These are the things that can mess up calling code, especially if
threaded. They might also cause problem under mod_perl.
Exported constants
Whether you want them or not you get them! These are subroutines to
use as constant when creating or testing elements
PCDATA return '#PCDATA'
CDATA return '#CDATA'
PI return '#PI', I had the choice between PROC and PI :--(
Module scoped values: constants
these should cause no trouble:
%base_ent= ( '>' => '>',
'<' => '<',
'&' => '&',
"'" => ''',
'"' => '"',
);
CDATA_START = "<![CDATA[";
CDATA_END = "]]>";
PI_START = "<?";
PI_END = "?>";
COMMENT_START = "<!--";
COMMENT_END = "-->";
pretty print styles
( $NSGMLS, $NICE, $INDENTED, $INDENTED_C, $WRAPPED, $RECORD1, $RECORD2)= (1..7);
empty tag output style
( $HTML, $EXPAND)= (1..2);
Module scoped values: might be changed
Most of these deal with pretty printing, so the worst that can
happen is probably that XML output does not look right, but is still
valid and processed identically by XML processors.
$empty_tag_style can mess up HTML bowsers though and changing $ID
would most likely create problems.
$pretty=0; # pretty print style
$quote='"'; # quote for attributes
$INDENT= ' '; # indent for indented pretty print
$empty_tag_style= 0; # how to display empty tags
$ID # attribute used as an id ('id' by default)
Module scoped values: definitely changed
These 2 variables are used to replace tags by an index, thus saving
some space when creating a twig. If they really cause you too much
trouble, let me know, it is probably possible to create either a
switch or at least a version of XML::Twig that does not perform this
optimization.
%gi2index; # tag => index
@index2gi; # list of tags
If you need to manipulate all those values, you can use the following
methods on the XML::Twig object:
global_state
Return a hashref with all the global variables used by XML::Twig
The hash has the following fields: "pretty", "quote", "indent",
"empty_tag_style", "keep_encoding", "expand_external_entities",
"output_filter", "output_text_filter", "keep_atts_order"
set_global_state ($state)
Set the global state, $state is a hashref
save_global_state
Save the current global state
restore_global_state
Restore the previously saved (using "Lsave_global_state"> state
TODO
SAX handlers
Allowing XML::Twig to work on top of any SAX parser
multiple twigs are not well supported
A number of twig features are just global at the moment. These
include the ID list and the "tag pool" (if you use "change_gi" then
you change the tag for ALL twigs).
A future version will try to support this while trying not to be to
hard on performance (at least when a single twig is used!).
AUTHOR
Michel Rodriguez <mirod@cpan.org>
LICENSE
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.
Bug reports should be sent using: RT
<http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=XML-Twig>
Comments can be sent to mirod@cpan.org
The XML::Twig page is at <http://www.xmltwig.org/xmltwig/> It includes
the development version of the module, a slightly better version of the
documentation, examples, a tutorial and a: Processing XML efficiently
with Perl and XML::Twig:
<http://www.xmltwig.org/xmltwig/tutorial/index.html>
SEE ALSO
Complete docs, including a tutorial, examples, an easier to use HTML
version of the docs, a quick reference card and a FAQ are available at
<http://www.xmltwig.org/xmltwig/>
git repository at <http://github.com/mirod/xmltwig>
XML::Parser, XML::Parser::Expat, XML::XPath, Encode, Text::Iconv,
Scalar::Utils
Alternative Modules
XML::Twig is not the only XML::Processing module available on CPAN (far
from it!).
The main alternative I would recommend is XML::LibXML.
Here is a quick comparison of the 2 modules:
XML::LibXML, actually "libxml2" on which it is based, sticks to the
standards, and implements a good number of them in a rather strict way:
XML, XPath, DOM, RelaxNG, I must be forgetting a couple (XInclude?). It
is fast and rather frugal memory-wise.
XML::Twig is older: when I started writing it XML::Parser/expat was the
only game in town. It implements XML and that's about it (plus a subset
of XPath, and you can use XML::Twig::XPath if you have XML::XPathEngine
installed for full support). It is slower and requires more memory for a
full tree than XML::LibXML. On the plus side (yes, there is a plus
side!) it lets you process a big document in chunks, and thus let you
tackle documents that couldn't be loaded in memory by XML::LibXML, and
it offers a lot (and I mean a LOT!) of higher-level methods, for
everything, from adding structure to "low-level" XML, to shortcuts for
XHTML conversions and more. It also DWIMs quite a bit, getting comments
and non-significant whitespaces out of the way but preserving them in
the output for example. As it does not stick to the DOM, is also usually
leads to shorter code than in XML::LibXML.
Beyond the pure features of the 2 modules, XML::LibXML seems to be
preferred by "XML-purists", while XML::Twig seems to be more used by
Perl Hackers who have to deal with XML. As you have noted, XML::Twig
also comes with quite a lot of docs, but I am sure if you ask for help
about XML::LibXML here or on Perlmonks you will get answers.
Note that it is actually quite hard for me to compare the 2 modules: on
one hand I know XML::Twig inside-out and I can get it to do pretty much
anything I need to (or I improve it ;--), while I have a very basic
knowledge of XML::LibXML. So feature-wise, I'd rather use XML::Twig
;--). On the other hand, I am painfully aware of some of the
deficiencies, potential bugs and plain ugly code that lurk in XML::Twig,
even though you are unlikely to be affected by them (unless for example
you need to change the DTD of a document programmatically), while I
haven't looked much into XML::LibXML so it still looks shinny and clean
to me.
That said, if you need to process a document that is too big to fit
memory and XML::Twig is too slow for you, my reluctant advice would be
to use "bare" XML::Parser. It won't be as easy to use as XML::Twig:
basically with XML::Twig you trade some speed (depending on what you do
from a factor 3 to... none) for ease-of-use, but it will be easier IMHO
than using SAX (albeit not standard), and at this point a LOT faster
(see the last test in
<http://www.xmltwig.org/article/simple_benchmark/>).
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