# \[REXML\] Raw Elements

**URL:** <https://rubytalk.org/t/rexml-raw-elements/15944>\
**Category:** ruby-talk\
**Created:** [21 January 2005 23:10 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/rexml-raw-elements/15944 "2005-01-21T23:10:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 13\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Trans1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Trans1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Trans1)\
**Post date:** [21 January 2005 23:10 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/rexml-raw-elements/15944/1 "2005-01-21T23:10:57Z")

</div>

I'm having trouble getting elements to be raw. I use, for example:

> d = Document.new( str, { :raw =\> ['O', 'T', 'V'] } )

Then when I traverse the document and query Element#raw it does say  
'true' for these tags, but it still appears that they have been parsed  
and I can't get the raw text.

> e.get\_text.value

Returns the same thing as

> e.text

Is there another way ones supposed to use to get at the raw text?  
Thanks,  
T.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Trans1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Trans1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Trans1)\
**Post date:** [22 January 2005 00:55 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/rexml-raw-elements/15944/2 "2005-01-22T00:55:57Z")

</div>

Sigh, I just realized I miss understood what raw meant --it's just  
relates to entity parsing. Why am I getting the feeling that there is  
no way to prevent parsing of the body of an element? I pray this is not  
the case, b/c it means back to the drawing board for something like the  
13th time :-(. But if is the case, can anyone recommend another XML  
parser then can do this?

Thanks,  
T.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Aredridel1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d07c76/32.png) [@Aredridel1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Aredridel1)\
**Post date:** [22 January 2005 01:01 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/rexml-raw-elements/15944/3 "2005-01-22T01:01:10Z")

</div>

None that I know of. The problem is this: where do you continue from,  
and how do you know if not by parsing?

Ari

> **···**
>
> On Sat, 2005-01-22 at 09:55 +0900, trans. wrote:
> 
> > Sigh, I just realized I miss understood what raw meant --it's just  
> > relates to entity parsing. Why am I getting the feeling that there is  
> > no way to prevent parsing of the body of an element? I pray this is not  
> > the case, b/c it means back to the drawing board for something like the  
> > 13th time :-(. But if is the case, can anyone recommend another XML  
> > parser then can do this?
> 
> ----  
> Ruby web hosting? [http://theinternetco.net/offers/ruby](http://theinternetco.net/offers/ruby)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Trans1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Trans1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Trans1)\
**Post date:** [22 January 2005 01:31 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/rexml-raw-elements/15944/4 "2005-01-22T01:31:02Z")

</div>

Well, I just want to specify a tag and anything in that tag would be  
left verbatim. That's all really. I'm tryng to find info on libxml  
bindings (rather difficult to find it seems) though I have a feeling  
that won't work either.

Worse comes to worse I'll wipe out old trust Tagiter and see if that  
will do. Otherwise I'll have to roll my own. Just what I need More  
Work!

Thanks Ari.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Zach\_Dennis1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ea5d25/32.png) [@Zach\_Dennis1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Zach_Dennis1)\
**Post date:** [22 January 2005 01:44 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/rexml-raw-elements/15944/5 "2005-01-22T01:44:06Z")

</div>

trans. wrote:

> Well, I just want to specify a tag and anything in that tag would be  
> left verbatim. That's all really. I'm tryng to find info on libxml  
> bindings (rather difficult to find it seems) though I have a feeling  
> that won't work either.
> 
> Worse comes to worse I'll wipe out old trust Tagiter and see if that  
> will do. Otherwise I'll have to roll my own. Just what I need More  
> Work!

REXML should be pretty easy to manipulate or add functions to. Why roll your own when you can just add a new behavior?

Zach

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![W\_James](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e274bd/32.png) [@W\_James](https://rubytalk.org/u/W_James)\
**Post date:** [22 January 2005 06:20 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/rexml-raw-elements/15944/6 "2005-01-22T06:20:56Z")

</div>

trans. wrote:

> Well, I just want to specify a tag and anything in that tag would be  
> left verbatim. That's all really. I'm tryng to find info on libxml  
> bindings (rather difficult to find it seems) though I have a feeling  
> that won't work either.
> 
> Worse comes to worse I'll wipe out old trust Tagiter and see if that  
> will do. Otherwise I'll have to roll my own. Just what I need More  
> Work!
> 
> Thanks Ari.

Here's a micro xml-parser (posted via Google, so the  
indentation has been removed):

# Produces array of nonmatching and matching  
# substrings. The size of the array will  
# always be an odd number. The first and the  
# last item will always be nonmatching.  
def shatter( s, re )  
s.gsub( re, "\1"+'\&'+"\1" ).split("\1")  
end

def get\_attr( s )  
h = Hash.new  
while s =~ /(\w+)="([^"]\*)"/  
h[$1] = $2  
s = $'  
end  
h  
end

def tag\_name( s )  
if ( s =~ /^\<(\S+)(\s|\>)/ )  
$1  
else  
nil  
end  
end

s = ''  
$\<.each\_line {|x| s=s+x}  
all = shatter( s, /\<[^\>]\*\>/ )  
all.each {|x|  
x.chomp!  
if x.size \> 0  
print x  
tname = tag\_name(x)  
print " | " + tname if tname  
print "\n"  
attr = get\_attr( x )  
if attr.size \> 0  
attr.each\_pair {|key,val| puts "....#{key}--\>#{val}" }  
end  
end  
}

With this input:

\<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?\>  
\<tv\>\<programme start="20041218204000 +1000"  
stop="20041218225000+1000" channel="Network TEN Brisbane"\>  
\<title\>The Frighteners\</title\>  
\<sub-title/\>\<desc\>A psychic private detective, who  
consorts with deceased souls, becomes engaged in a mystery as members  
of the town community begin dying mysteriously.\</desc\>  
\<rating system="ABA"\>\<value\>M\</value\>\</rating\>\<length  
units="minutes"\>130\</length\>\<category\>Horror\</category\>\</programme\>

the output is:

\<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?\> | ?xml  
.....encoding--\>UTF-8  
.....version--\>1.0  
\<tv\> | tv  
\<programme start="20041218204000 +1000"  
stop="20041218225000+1000" channel="Network TEN Brisbane"\> | programme  
.....stop--\>20041218225000+1000  
.....start--\>20041218204000 +1000  
.....channel--\>Network TEN Brisbane  
\<title\> | title  
The Frighteners  
\</title\> | /title  
\<sub-title/\> | sub-title/  
\<desc\> | desc  
A psychic private detective, who  
consorts with deceased souls, becomes engaged in a mystery as members  
of the town community begin dying mysteriously.  
\</desc\> | /desc  
\<rating system="ABA"\> | rating  
.....system--\>ABA  
\<value\> | value  
M  
\</value\> | /value  
\</rating\> | /rating  
\<length  
units="minutes"\> | length  
.....units--\>minutes  
130  
\</length\> | /length  
\<category\> | category  
Horror  
\</category\> | /category  
\</programme\> | /programme

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Trans1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Trans1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Trans1)\
**Post date:** [22 January 2005 01:55 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/rexml-raw-elements/15944/7 "2005-01-22T01:55:58Z")

</div>

Thanks Zach, that's a fair idea. I did a little REXML hacking a few  
years back, so maybe so....

"Sean, do you still frequent this list?" Is it reasonably feasible?

T.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Trans1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Trans1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Trans1)\
**Post date:** [22 January 2005 14:55 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/rexml-raw-elements/15944/8 "2005-01-22T14:55:55Z")

</div>

Hey Thanks! Not sure if I'll end up using since I just spent last night  
wrting a general purpose stack-based parser. But I'll keep it in  
reference.

Love the method name #shatter, BTW.

T.

P.S. FYI, I figured out that you can just use a "margin" character in  
order to preserve indention. For example, I'm using Google Groups now  
too:

: class A  
: def shatter  
: # ...  
: end  
: end

As to which character you like best, that's your call ;-).

Also, I know there is a way to set the google group to a fixed-font  
mode (I manage a group and there is that option), but I don't know who  
manages this group and thus would be able to set it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Robert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e95f7d/32.png) [@Robert](https://rubytalk.org/u/Robert)\
**Post date:** [22 January 2005 15:35 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/rexml-raw-elements/15944/9 "2005-01-22T15:35:56Z")

</div>

"trans." \<tsawyer@gmail.com\> schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:1106405630.304418.141620@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...

> Hey Thanks! Not sure if I'll end up using since I just spent last night  
> wrting a general purpose stack-based parser. But I'll keep it in  
> reference.
> 
> Love the method name #shatter, BTW.
> 
> T.
> 
> P.S. FYI, I figured out that you can just use a "margin" character in  
> order to preserve indention. For example, I'm using Google Groups now  
> too:
> 
> : class A  
> : def shatter  
> : # ...  
> : end  
> : end
> 
> As to which character you like best, that's your call ;-).

I'd like best a space.

Oh, I'm sorry, just got my silly five minutes. 🙂

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;robert

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![W\_James](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e274bd/32.png) [@W\_James](https://rubytalk.org/u/W_James)\
**Post date:** [22 January 2005 17:30 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/rexml-raw-elements/15944/10 "2005-01-22T17:30:55Z")

</div>

trans. wrote:

> P.S. FYI, I figured out that you can just use a "margin" character in  
> order to preserve indention.

Thanks; I didn't think of that.

.. def shatter( s, re )  
.. s.gsub( re, "\1"+'\&'+"\1" ).split("\1")  
.. end

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![W\_James](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e274bd/32.png) [@W\_James](https://rubytalk.org/u/W_James)\
**Post date:** [22 January 2005 20:15 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/rexml-raw-elements/15944/11 "2005-01-22T20:15:55Z")

</div>

Here's an improved version:

.. class String  
.. # Produces array of nonmatching and matching  
.. # substrings. The size of the array will  
.. # always be an odd number. The first and the  
.. # last item will always be nonmatching.  
.. def shatter( re )  
.. self.gsub( re, "\1"+'\&'+"\1" ).split("\1")  
.. end  
.. def xml\_parse  
.. self.shatter( /\<[^\>]\*\>/ )  
.. end  
.. def get\_attr  
.. s = self  
.. while s =~ /(\w+)="([^"]\*)"/m  
.. yield( $1, $2 )  
.. s = $'  
.. end  
.. end  
.. def tag\_name  
.. if ( self =~ /^\<(\S+)("\n"|\s|\>)/ )  
.. $1  
.. else  
.. nil  
.. end  
.. end  
.. def span( tagname )  
.. s = self  
.. while (s =~ Regexp.new(  
.. '(\<'+tagname+'.\*?\>)(.\*?)\</'+tagname+'\>',  
.. Regexp::MULTILINE))  
.. yield( $1, $2 )  
.. s = $'  
.. end  
.. end  
.. end  
..  
.. s = ''  
.. $\<.each\_line {|x| s=s+x}  
.. s.span('programme') { |tag,string|  
.. string.span('title') {|junk,title|  
.. puts 'Title: ' + title.chomp.gsub(/\n/,' ')  
.. }  
.. string.span('length') {|tag,len|  
.. tag.get\_attr {|key,val| @units=val }  
.. puts "Length: #{len.chomp} #{@units}"  
.. }  
.. }

With the input

\<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?\>  
\<tv\>\<programme start="20041218204000 +1000" stop="20041218225000  
+1000" channel="Network TEN Brisbane"\>\<title\>The  
Frighteners\</title\>\<sub-title/\>\<desc\>A psychic private detective, who  
consorts with deceased souls, becomes engaged in a mystery as members  
of the town community begin dying mysteriously.\</desc\>\<rating  
system="ABA"\>\<value\>M\</value\>\</rating\>\<length  
units="minutes"\>130\</length\>\<category\>Horror\</category\>\</programme\>\<programme  
start="20041218080000 +1000" stop="20041218083000 +1000"  
channel="Network TEN Brisbane"\>\<title\>Worst Best  
Friends\</title\>\<sub-title\>Better Than Glen\</sub-title\>\<desc\>Life's  
like that for Roger Thesaurus - two of his best friends are also his  
worst enemies!\</desc\>\<rating  
system="ABA"\>\<value\>C\</value\>\</rating\>\<length  
units="minutes"\>30\</length\>\<category\>Children\</category\>\</programme\>

the output is

Title: The Frighteners  
Length: 130 minutes  
Title: Worst Best Friends  
Length: 30 minutes

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Trans1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Trans1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Trans1)\
**Post date:** [22 January 2005 17:20 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/rexml-raw-elements/15944/12 "2005-01-22T17:20:55Z")

</div>

> I'd like best a space.

Me too, but what you gonna do?

Also, btw, I should have mention that the small size of your parser is  
impressive --micro indeed!

T.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Trans1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Trans1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Trans1)\
**Post date:** [22 January 2005 22:20 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/rexml-raw-elements/15944/13 "2005-01-22T22:20:55Z")

</div>

mall size of /your/ parser

Oops. I mean William's parser!