XML string replacement in Windows batch file

Question

I have a xml file with header and footer like:

set "header=<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><Config   xmlns="http://namespace.com/config" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" version="2.0">"
set "footer=</Config>"

I want to remove them from the xml file then read in the remaining items in between the header and footer tags.

I've tried to use sed. this works on Linux but don't do anything on Windows

sed -e "s@%header%@@g" -i.backup xmlFile.xml any suggestions?

you have different variables in your code: header and xmlHeader. — Endoro
– Endoro, Commented Jul 30, 2013 at 17:26
Changed to variables to be the same. This is not the problem though. Script still don't remove header from xml file. — Evan
– Evan, Commented Jul 30, 2013 at 17:33

Endoro · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-30 17:47:59Z

3

In Windows you must escape double quotes with a backslash:

@ECHO OFF &SETLOCAL
set "XMLheader=<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?><Config   xmlns=\"http://namespace.com/config\" xmlns:xsi=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\" version=\"2.0\">"
set "footer=</Config>"
sed "s@%xmlHeader%\|%footer%@@g" file

Example on the command line:

    >type file
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><Config   xmlns="http://namespace.com/config" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" version="2.0">
    <tag1>info1 changes in the loop</tag1>
    <tag2>info2 changes in the loop</tag2>
    </Config>

    >sed "s@<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?><Config   xmlns=\"http://namespace.com/config\" xmlns:xsi=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\" version=\"2.0\">\|</Config>@@g" file

    <tag1>info1 changes in the loop</tag1>
    <tag2>info2 changes in the loop</tag2>

Note: the g flag for the s command of sed is not necessary here.

answered Jul 30, 2013 at 17:47

Endoro

37.7k8 gold badges54 silver badges64 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

Evan Over a year ago

Works great! Thanks Endoro!

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

XML string replacement in Windows batch file

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related