C# using regular expressions to replace malformed XML close tags

Question

I have a malformed xml file which is generated with incorrect closing tags as follows.

<Root>
.
.
<Question id='1' type='text'>London</Question id='1' type='text'>
<Question id='2' type='radio'>4</Question id='2' type='radio'>
<Question id='3' type='check'>6</Question id='3' type='check'>
.
.
</Root>

I need to refine this XML file with propper closing tags as follows.

<Question id='1' type='text'>London</Question>

In summary close tags like,

<Question id='some id' type='some type'> should be replaced with </Question>

There are hundreds of tags in the file. How can I use string operations with RegEx to process that file in order to create a well-formed XML file.

Thanks,

Chatur

Why not use regexp in notepad++ in order to refactor closing tags instead of using C# ? — AlexH
– AlexH, Commented Nov 28, 2012 at 13:04

Artem Koshelev · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-28 13:15:59Z

2

Assuming str is the malformed XML string:

string fixed = Regex.Replace(str, @"</([^\s]+)[^>]+>", "</$1>");

A very useful thing to test regular expressions is Regex Designer from Rad Software. It's free, it's fully .NET-compatible and it has built-in help.

edited Nov 28, 2012 at 13:15

answered Nov 28, 2012 at 13:04

Artem Koshelev

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2 Comments

chatura Over a year ago

Thanks Artem... it worked for close tags except the root. The only issue is it replces the root close tag as </Roo>

Richard Deeming Over a year ago

@chatura: Change the pattern to </([^\s]+)\s+[^>]+> to fix the problem with </Root>.

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