Read from XML file using Powershell

Question

I'm finding it hard to figure out a way to retrieve content from XML file. Below is how my xml file looks like. I'm trying to retrieve the complete 'nlog' node. Please help.

<configuration>
<configSections>
        <section name="nlog" type="NLog.Config.ConfigSectionHandler, ..."/>
 </configSections>
  <nlog xmlns="http://www.nlog-project.org/schemas/NLog.xsd"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
      <variable name="LoggingDirectory" value="D:/Logging/"/>
      <include file="${LoggingDirectory}Config/Framework.nlog.xml"/>
  </nlog>
 </configuration>

here is what I have tried so far:

$nlogConfigFile = 'D:\machine.config.nlog.xml'
$nlogConfigXml = new-object xml
$nlogConfigXml.Load($nlogConfigFile);
$nlogConfigXml.PreserveWhitespace = $true

I have used the "Get-XmlNode" function provided in this blog http://blog.danskingdom.com/powershell-functions-to-get-an-xml-node-and-get-and-set-an-xml-elements-value-even-when-the-element-does-not-already-exist/

Get-XmlNode -XmlDocument $nlogConfigXml -NodePath "configuration.configSections.section[@name='nlog']"     ## works OK
Get-XmlNode -XmlDocument $nlogConfigXml -NodePath "configuration.nlog"   ## does NOT work

I have also tried "Select-Xml" , .SelectSingleNode commands but none of them seem to work. Please let me know if I'm missing something.

Enigmativity · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-31 10:23:42Z

5

This works:

$nlogConfigXml = [xml]$(gc "D:\machine.config.nlog.xml")

Then you can navigate $nlogConfigXml using object notation.

For example, doing this:

$nlogConfigXml.configuration.nlog.variable.name

...outputs this:

LoggingDirectory

edited Dec 31, 2013 at 10:23

answered Dec 31, 2013 at 6:53

Enigmativity

117k12 gold badges101 silver badges184 bronze badges

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

3 Comments

Rajesh Over a year ago

Hi How do I access an element by attribute using this model ? For example: retrieve the section with name= 'nlog' ?

Enigmativity Over a year ago

@CrazyFrog - I've added an example.

sharptooth Over a year ago

For Powershell noobs (I'm currently one of them) - gc is short for Get-Content, not garbage collector.

BartekB · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-31 17:07:55Z

I would suggest using Select-Xml and XPath. Mind that you need to include namespace info to make it work correctly:

$Xml = [xml]@'
<configuration>
<configSections>
        <section name="nlog" type="NLog.Config.ConfigSectionHandler, ..."/>
 </configSections>
  <nlog xmlns="http://www.nlog-project.org/schemas/NLog.xsd"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
      <variable name="LoggingDirectory" value="D:/Logging/"/>
      <include file="${LoggingDirectory}Config/Framework.nlog.xml"/>
  </nlog>
</configuration>
'@

Select-Xml -Xml $Xml -Namespace @{
    n = "http://www.nlog-project.org/schemas/NLog.xsd"
} -XPath //n:nlog

Namespace definition (hashtable value) is just copy/paste of xmlns. The name you specify (hashtable key) is the same you later have to use in XPath queries as a prefix for XPath elements (as in example: n:nlog)

Bertus · Accepted Answer · 2021-06-01 10:39:22Z

0

$nlogConfigFile = '.\machine.config.nlog.xml'
[XML]$xmlFileContent = Get-Content $nlogConfigFile
$xmlFileContent.configuration.nlog.variable.name

Just a little bit different format from the answer before.

answered Jun 1, 2021 at 10:39

Bertus

34 bronze badges

1 Comment

Dugini Vijay Over a year ago

This doesn't work properly it always have been throwing the error. The answer specified by @enigmitavity was helpful and working as expected.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Read from XML file using Powershell

3 Answers 3

3 Comments

Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

3 Answers 3

3 Comments

Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related