xmlabit

xmlabit = xml + alphabet + it!

A tool sort xml node by pugixml, sort xml nodes/attributes by alphabet.

中文说明文档：XML排序小工具——xmlabit。

Usage:

xmlabit [options] -t <xml_nodes/attributes_name> -o <output_xml_file> <input_xml_file>

Options:

-v, --version Print version information.

-h, --help Print this usage.

-t, --target Xml nodes/attributes name which need to sort, like: /xpath/of/parent_node@node#attribute, for example: /bookstore@books#price. Extraly, #attribute can be omitted.

-o, --output Ouput xml file path which sorted by xmlabit, if none output file argument is provided, then output to the screen.

-d, --desecend Sort nodes/attributes value in deseconding order.

-i, --ignore-case Case insensitive while sorting not in numeric mode.

-n, --numeric Treat nodes/attributes value as number.

-s, --sort-attrs Sort nodes' attributes by alphabet.

Complie:

At project directory, run command:

$ mkdir build
$ cd build
$ cmake ..
$ make
$ make install

If you want to compile debug version, please replace cmake .. with cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug.

make install will put xmlabit at /usr/local/bin by default.

Examples:

You can run commands below at build directory:

Example 1: sort node by sub node value

./xmlabit -t /bookstore@book#title books.xml -o output.xml

Here is a test xml file books.xml, contains bookstore and book informations:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<bookstore>
  <magzine>
    <title lang="eng">Beauty</title>
    <price>129.29</price>
  </magzine>
  <book>
    <title lang="eng">Harry Potter3</title>
    <price>29.29</price>
  </book>
  <book>
    <title lang="eng">Harry Potter2</title>
    <price>39.99</price>
  </book>
  <book>
    <title lang="eng">Harry Potter</title>
    <price>29.19</price>
  </book>
  <book>
    <title lang="eng">readme</title>
    <price>0.95</price>
  </book>
  <book>
    <title lang="eng">readme2</title>
    <price>-0.955</price>
  </book>
  <book>
    <title lang="eng">Learning XML</title>
    <price>39.95</price>
  </book>
  <book>
    <title lang="eng">readme3</title>
    <price>0.95</price>
  </book>
</bookstore>

If we want to sort books by book's title, the argument bebind -t is /bookstore@book#title, / means the root of XML, /bookstore@book means the name of the nodes to be sorted is book, the XPath is /bookstore/book, the value of sub node or attribute which named title will be used to sort.

The output file output.xml is:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<bookstore>
	<magzine>
		<title lang="eng">Beauty</title>
		<price>129.29</price>
	</magzine>
	<book>
		<title lang="eng">Harry Potter</title>
		<price>29.19</price>
	</book>
	<book>
		<title lang="eng">Harry Potter2</title>
		<price>39.99</price>
	</book>
	<book>
		<title lang="eng">Harry Potter3</title>
		<price>29.29</price>
	</book>
	<book>
		<title lang="eng">Learning XML</title>
		<price>39.95</price>
	</book>
	<book>
		<title lang="eng">readme</title>
		<price>0.95</price>
	</book>
	<book>
		<title lang="eng">readme2</title>
		<price>-0.955</price>
	</book>
	<book>
		<title lang="eng">readme3</title>
		<price>0.95</price>
	</book>
</bookstore>

Example 2

Here we have another books2.xml, which also contains books' information, but the structure of XML is different.

Input test xml file books2.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<bookstore>
  <books>
    <book lang="eng" price="29.99">Harry Potter3</book>
    <book lang="us" price="10">harry potter2</book>
    <book lang="fr" price="2">Harry Potter</book>
    <book lang="eng" price="5">readme</book>
    <book lang="zh-CN" price="0.1">readme2</book>
    <book lang="eng" price="92">Learning XML</book>
    <book lang="eng" price="0.01">readme3</book>
  </books>
</bookstore>

2.1 sort the books descending by title

./xmlabit -t /bookstore/books@book -d books2.xml

Output xml is:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<bookstore>
	<books>
		<book lang="eng" price="0.01">readme3</book>
		<book lang="zh-CN" price="0.1">readme2</book>
		<book lang="eng" price="5">readme</book>
		<book lang="us" price="10">harry potter2</book>
		<book lang="eng" price="92">Learning XML</book>
		<book lang="eng" price="29.99">Harry Potter3</book>
		<book lang="fr" price="2">Harry Potter</book>
	</books>
</bookstore>

You can see, there is a book named list before , that because the ASCII value of lower case letter h is bigger than L.

2.2 sort the books descending by title with case insensitive

./xmlabit -t /bookstore/books@book -di books2.xml

Output xml is:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<bookstore>
	<books>
		<book lang="eng" price="0.01">readme3</book>
		<book lang="zh-CN" price="0.1">readme2</book>
		<book lang="eng" price="5">readme</book>
		<book lang="eng" price="92">Learning XML</book>
		<book lang="eng" price="29.99">Harry Potter3</book>
		<book lang="us" price="10">harry potter2</book>
		<book lang="fr" price="2">Harry Potter</book>
	</books>
</bookstore>

2.3 sort all books by attribute lang

./xmlabit -t /bookstore/books@book#lang books2.xml

Output test xml is:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<bookstore>
	<books>
		<book lang="eng" price="29.99">Harry Potter3</book>
		<book lang="eng" price="5">readme</book>
		<book lang="eng" price="92">Learning XML</book>
		<book lang="eng" price="0.01">readme3</book>
		<book lang="fr" price="2">Harry Potter</book>
		<book lang="us" price="10">harry potter2</book>
		<book lang="zh-CN" price="0.1">readme2</book>
	</books>
</bookstore>

2.4: sort all books by attribute price

./xmlabit -t /bookstore/books@book#price books2.xml

Output xml is:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<bookstore>
	<books>
		<book lang="eng" price="0.01">readme3</book>
		<book lang="zh-CN" price="0.1">readme2</book>
		<book lang="us" price="10">harry potter2</book>
		<book lang="fr" price="2">Harry Potter</book>
		<book lang="eng" price="29.99">Harry Potter3</book>
		<book lang="eng" price="5">readme</book>
		<book lang="eng" price="92">Learning XML</book>
	</books>
</bookstore>

Because the value of price actually is a string, the xml sorted by alphabet.

2.5: sort all books by attribute price as numeric

./xmlabit -t /bookstore/books@book#price books2.xml -n

Output xml is:

<bookstore>
	<books>
		<book lang="eng" price="0.01">readme3</book>
		<book lang="zh-CN" price="0.1">readme2</book>
		<book lang="fr" price="2">Harry Potter</book>
		<book lang="eng" price="5">readme</book>
		<book lang="us" price="10">harry potter2</book>
		<book lang="eng" price="29.99">Harry Potter3</book>
		<book lang="eng" price="92">Learning XML</book>
	</books>
</bookstore>

Example 3: sort nodes, also sort nodes' attributes

Here we have another books3.xml, very like books2.xml, but each node contains more attributes which are disordered too.

Input test xml file books3.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<bookstore>
  <books>
    <book lang="eng" price="29.99" day="20" month="May" year="2019">Harry Potter3</book>
    <book month="May" day="20" year="2019" price="10" lang="us" >harry potter2</book>
    <book lang="fr" month="May" price="2" day="20" year="2019">Harry Potter</book>
    <book lang="eng" year="2019" month="May" day="20" price="5">readme</book>
    <book month="May" year="2019" day="20" lang="zh-CN" price="0.1">readme2</book>
  </books>
</bookstore>

Run:

xmlabit -t /bookstore/books@book#lang books3.xml -s

Output xml is:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<bookstore>
  <books>
    <book day="20" lang="eng" month="May" price="29.99" year="2019">Harry Potter3</book>
    <book day="20" lang="eng" month="May" price="5" year="2019">readme</book>
    <book day="20" lang="fr" month="May" price="2" year="2019">Harry Potter</book>
    <book day="20" lang="us" month="May" price="10" year="2019">harry potter2</book>
    <book day="20" lang="zh-CN" month="May" price="0.1" year="2019">readme2</book>
  </books>
</bookstore>