Using regexps to parse an XML DTD file

Leitchn has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

OK - I know there are various tools out there to do this, but I need to do it myself.
So here goes......

What I'm currently trying to do is get the children from this line in a DTD file:

<!ELEMENT ORDER    (NAME,DELIVERY,PAYMENT,ORDERNUMBER)>
[download]

I'm currently drowning in regexps, and my current attempt is wildly off track - can anyone point out where I'm going wrong?

while ($dtdLine=~/(\((.*?)\,|\,(.*?))/sg){
    push(@children,$1);
    print "@children\n";
}
[download]

TIA

Nick.

Comment on Using regexps to parse an XML DTD file Select or Download Code

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Re: Using regexps to parse an XML DTD file by the_slycer (Chaplain) on Nov 26, 2000 at 06:54 UTC
Not what I would do ($1 is not neccesarily a good thing ;-)), but here's some code that works, note that it's not all a regex :-) `$string = "<!ELEMENT ORDER (NAME,DELIVERY,PAYMENT,ORDERNUMBER)>"; $string =~ m/$(.*)$/; @array = split (/,/,$1); foreach (@array){print "$_\n"}` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Re: Using regexps to parse an XML DTD file by Leitchn (Acolyte) on Nov 26, 2000 at 07:09 UTC
Excellent, thanks - out of interest though, can it be done with a single regexp? Nick.	[reply]
Re: Re: Re: Using regexps to parse an XML DTD file by merlyn (Sage) on Nov 26, 2000 at 07:50 UTC
A single regex cannot generate a variable number of backreferences. What do you think this is, Java? ¹{grin} -- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker ¹The Java regex library I saw caused `/(\w+)\s+)+/` to generate a variable number of backreferences, making it impossible to know exactly what part of the match you were looking at. Evil. They just don't get it.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Using regexps to parse an XML DTD file by Leitchn (Acolyte) on Nov 26, 2000 at 06:40 UTC
I'm getting closer: `$dtdLine=~m/$(.)\,\|\,(.)$\|\,(.*)\,/sg)` [download] Gives me all but the last one.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Using regexps to parse an XML DTD file by Leitchn (Acolyte) on Nov 26, 2000 at 06:15 UTC
I didn't really forget the 'm' after the =~. Honest. Nick.	[reply]
Re: Re: Using regexps to parse an XML DTD file by jptxs (Curate) on Nov 26, 2000 at 07:08 UTC
If you hadn't of said anything we wouldn't have noticed; the 'm' in m// is optional and has been for a while : ) `<myExperience> $mostLanguages = 'Designed for engineers by engineers.'; $perl = 'Designed for people who speak by a linguist.'; </myExperience>` [download]	[reply] [d/l]