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

Hi, I am trying to extract xml comments from my c code. Actvally i added some xml comments to my c code. Now I need to extract xml comments as it is by using perl.

. c code .... .......... /*xml comments*/ ......... .........ccode </code>

I need to extract only xml comments he above code not entire c code.As show in the above code i just posted small c code before and after xml comments, more number of c code lines is there in my code like same as above c code.but can any one help me how to extract xml comments as it is as shown in the above.I tried to extract xml comments using perl regexp but i am unable to extract xml comments. can any one help me. thanks in advance. sorry for deleting code.

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Re: extract comments from source code.
by Marshall (Canon) on Sep 26, 2011 at 12:34 UTC
    To extract the lines between and including ones that start with <DTC> and end with </DTC>:

    #!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

while (<DATA>)
{
   if (m|^\s*<DTC>| ... m|^\s*</DTC>|)
   {
      print;   
   }
}

__DATA__ 
...is your data consisting of the C program...

    [download]
    See: tutorial on Flip/Flop operator: Flipin good, or a total flop?

    Lines extracted: 

    <DTC>
  <TroubleCode>1101</TroubleCode> 
  <ShortDescription>The reductant pump needs to run slower than expect
+ed to keep the pressure.</ShortDescription>  
  <Classification>FAULT</Classification> 
  <SelfHealing>No selfhealing</SelfHealing> 
  <Erasability>erasable</Erasability> 
  <RedetectedDegradation>No Degradation</RedetectedDegradation> 
  <WarningLamp>No Warning Lamp</WarningLamp> 
  <DirectDegradation>No Action</DirectDegradation> 
  <Order>PRIMARY</Order> 
   </DTC>

    [download]
    There are a number of Perl XML parsers that can deal with these lines after they have been extracted from the C code.

    Update:
    I looked again at the post and I think that the "C" code will not compile because the <DTC>...</DTC> stuff does not look like a comment block to the C compiler. I guess the blocks could be like:

    /*XML doc start
<DTC>
  <TroubleCode>1101</TroubleCode> 
  <Classification>FAULT</Classification> 
  <SelfHealing>No selfhealing</SelfHealing> 
  <Erasability>erasable</Erasability> 
</DTC>
XML doc end */

    [download]
    So that the C compiler will see the whole XML doc as a single comment block.

    An alternate that is worth considering is Perl POD (Perl Plain Old Documentation) Perl POD. If you organize the "comments" in the C code right, the C compiler will be happy. And the Perl documentation generator will also be happy processing the raw C input file (a "=" as the first character on a line has special meaning). The Perl POD generators will make HTML web pages or man pages directly from the C source file, if the comments /*....*/ are done right.

    /*Perl doc start
=some heading in Perl POD
... lines
=some other heading tag in Perl POD
..... lines
=cut
Perl doc end */

    [download]
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      Hi Marshall, Thank you very much for your reply.I tried your suggested regex its working. I am very happy with that and i am at learning stage so I got some understanding with your code that extract xml comments. also thank you very much for your suggetion in c code also i rectified that error also. now i am very happy because my problem solved. If incase i have more question on perl programming i will ask you.,because i am working with that. thank you , regards, veerubiji
[reply]

        Hi marshall, i have one more problem i have xml file like below. but i nedd to create hash table using perl script.

        <code>
[reply]
Re: extract comments from source code.
by Anonymous Monk on Sep 26, 2011 at 12:12 UTC
[reply]
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