Getting data between XML comments with powershell

Question

I want to be able to be able to identify (and replace) XML elements between XML comments. E.g:

<!-- between here -->
<add key="userdefined1" value="something1" />
<add key="userdefined2" value="something2" />
<add key="userdefined3" value="something3" />
<!-- between here -->

The reason I'm using comments is because this is the web.config file from a .NET web project. The reason I'm not using custom config sections is that the application is years old and there are thousands of existing refernces to these keys so changing the way they're accessed could be a hassle.

So you have control over where the remarks get put in the file? — EBGreen
– EBGreen, Commented Aug 17, 2012 at 18:56
Yes, I can ensure they're in the right place (i.e. not straddling tags or something). — Piers MacDonald
– Piers MacDonald, Commented Aug 17, 2012 at 19:49
So personally I would add an attribute to the tags that I want to grab. That would make it much easier to get the ones you want imo. — EBGreen
– EBGreen, Commented Aug 17, 2012 at 20:35

Mat M · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-21 20:33:18Z

1

This may not be optimal, but it works. You have two constants here, the string and the filename.

$comment = '<!-- between here -->'
$start = $false
ForEach ($l in (Get-Content .\testfile.config)) { 
        if (-not $start -and $l -notmatch $comment) {continue}
        if (-not $start -and $l -match $comment ) { $start = $True }
        elseif ($start -and  $l -notmatch $comment) { echo $l }
        elseif ($start -and  $l -match $comment) { break }
}

As an alternative:

$comment = '<!-- between here -->'
$file = '.\testfile.config'
Select-String -pattern $comment -path $file | % { if (-not $b) { $b=$_.LineNumber} else { $e=$_.LinenUmber-2}}
Get-Content $file | Select-Object -Index ($b..$e)

edited Apr 21, 2014 at 20:33

answered Apr 21, 2014 at 20:11

Mat M

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