Re^4: XML cleanup - regex or ?

It's not an XML error to be missing a meow attribute on a cat element.

That depends, if the attribute is mandatory it would be an error. Or do you mean something else by XML error? I'm thinking XSD here but I recall that with DTD's you can also specify attributes and make them "required".

Cheers

Harry

Comment on Re^4: XML cleanup - regex or ?

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Re^5: XML cleanup - regex or ? by ikegami (Patriarch) on Sep 22, 2010 at 15:36 UTC
XML doesn't have any mandatory attributes on any elements. It doesn't even define any elements. As I suggested, you are talking of validation errors and not parsing errors. Those are two unrelated concepts. You need not validate the XML the parse it and manipulate it.	[reply]
Re^6: XML cleanup - regex or ? by dHarry (Abbot) on Sep 22, 2010 at 16:29 UTC
I don't disagree with you, I didn't get what you mean by "XML error" and I'm afraid I still don't get it. If you mean that with "missing attributes" you can still parse the file because it remains "well formed" I agree. A XML parser can parse any wellformed XML document, otherwise it would not be compliant. Missing attributes won't make a difference. In order for a XML document to be wellformed you need at least a root element though. What got me on the wrong foot is that the OP mentions he knows what attributes to expect, I sort of assumed he has schema(s) and/or DTD(s) and therefore a validating parser. Validation is optional of course.	[reply]
Re^7: XML cleanup - regex or ? by ikegami (Patriarch) on Sep 22, 2010 at 16:47 UTC
I'm afraid I still don't get it. He said he can't use an XML parser since he's getting XML parsing errors. If he correctly reported the problem, then he's mistaken. He's not getting XML parsing errors, so he can use an XML parser (as demonstrated). That's all I said. If he is getting XML parsing errors, then he misreported the problem in the OP. Crafting a regular expression would probably be the simplest solution, but we can't help him craft one without knowing what it should do.	[reply]